VIRG: Project Eclipse
by Anonymous Fanz
Summary: A jaded warrior who trusts few. A mischievous thief with a mysterious agenda. A kid genius without a reputation. And the descendant of a military failure. These are our only hope of stopping a two mad scientists from recreating the mysterious Project Eclipse. VIRG Volume 1
1. Know your enemy

**I'm going to wait until we find out what happened to everyone at the end of season 14. Until then, I'll be working on this RWBY project that had been building up since I saw the trailer and came up with ideas for my own weapons. Over the course of the series, I started to generate ideas for who would use them and created several OCs. Eventually, it lead to here.**

 **If you haven't read the trailers, do so now, so you learn their appearances and weapons.**

 **I do not own any canon RWBY sharacters that appear in this story, only the original characters and original plotlines. RWBY was created by Monty Oum and is owned by Roosterteeth.**

* * *

...

 _ **Know your enemy**_

 _"Grimm Log 1-1: I am Dr. Kelly Rifleman. I have been given the difficult task of studying the Grimm. Despite their tendencies to disappear when killed or captured, I am determined to understand humanity's enemy. Because if we don't understand our enemy, how can we hope to defeat it?"_

...

Teal Aquamarine doesn't like running around on rooftops to hunt down some kid, but since he lost his gunship, he didn't have any faster options of searching for him. Teal stopped to get a visual of his target.

"Move in." Aquamarine pulled out his gun while a second person, Rocky Rhodes, jumped off the roof behind him to reach the target on foot.

Rhode's doesn't look like much. The only distinguishable piece of clothing on him is his brown jacket, with shoulder plates made from scrap metal. His hair was a mix of brown, white, and tan, and his eyes were colored hazelnut brown.

Rhode's followed the target into an empty alley way. However, he saw no sign of the target there.

Viridian dropped behind the Rhodes, and slashed him in the back. "Okay, who do you think your messing with?!" Rhodes asked.  
"You!" Viridian delivered a strong kick from his left leg to Rocky's chest, sending him into a wall.  
"My name is Rocky Rhodes!" Rhodes punched the ground, shaking the entire area.

Viridian jumped into the air. He transformed his sword into a bow, and shot several lights, darkening the alley. Rhodes found himself struck by a barrage of slashes that he could not defend against because he could not see where they were coming from. To him, it seemed as if he were surrounded by an army of Viridian's attacking him from every direction. But there was in fact only one.

Viridian held Rhodes against the wall, with a sword at his throat.  
"Why were you following me?" Viridian asked. Aquamarine dropped down from the rooftop, and prepared his sword to strike at Viridian from behind.

A grenade knocked Aquamarine away from Viridis.  
"Don't move any closer." A huntsman warned. He wore armor similar to Aquamarine's, but his was colored yellow. His weapon was a grenade launcher with a large blade attached to it, that reached past his elbow in it's rear facing position.

Aquamarine recognized this huntsman. He knew exactly what would happen if he fought him. Teal fired at the huntsman, who used his weapon to block. Aquamarine charged past Viridian to grab Rhodes, and leave.

"Who are you?" Viridian asked.

...

"Do you know who either of those two were?"

"No."

"Do you know what they wanted from you?"

"If I knew that, I wouldn't have asked one of them in the alley."

"Do you know anything about Project Eclipse?" The huntsman asked.  
"They were Eclipse?" Viridian was confused.  
"They weren't Eclipse, they were sent by Eclipse. I want to know why." Limone explained.

Eclipse was an alliance between two groups of scientists. Their leaders are Sol Apollo, and Luna Artemis. The former wanted to create the perfect human soldier, and the later wished to eradicate the Grimm. Both were willing to take science to a dangerous level to get results.

"All I know is that Eclipse makes people disappear." Viridian answered. They also do that. For science, of course.

"Viridian Viridis." A man with a cane and a cup of coffee entered the room.

"I've been investigating Eclipse for months, but I run into this kid, and you show up." Limone grumbled.

"You seem nervous." The man observed.  
"That's probably because I'm in a room that reminds me of prison." Viridian replied.  
"And I've never even been to prison." He added.

"I can assure you that you are safe here." The man said.  
"If there's one thing I've learned, it's that when someone is being nice, they usually want something." Viridian noted.  
Limone laughed. "You're not wrong. Everyone wants something. Even if it that thing is to help someone that needs it." He replied.

"Do you know who I am?" The man asked.  
"Should I?" Viridian asked.

"Hmm, that worked last time." Ozpin muttered. "I am Professor Ozpin—"  
"From Beacon Academy." Viridian finished. "I've heard of you, but I haven't seen you before." Viridian explained.

"Would you like to go to my school?" Ozpin asked.  
"Sure. I'll see you in a few years." Viridian replied. That might not be an option in a few years.

"I think you misunderstood me. Would you like to go to my school, this year?" Ozpin restated. Viridian didn't trust such an offer to be given to him freely.

"What makes you think I'm ready?" Viridian asked.  
"You took down Rocky Rhodes by yourself. That's a feat that few your age could attain." Limon replied. Viridian had no idea who Rocky Rhodes was. He has no idea if this was truly an incredible feat or if he this was a lie to conceal the truth. His instincts told him it was the latter.

"Do you normally let people into Beacon early?" Viridian asked.  
"No, but I did recently give the same offer to another student. Ruby Rose." Ozpin replied. Viridian was surprised to hear that name.  
"And did she take it?" Viridian asked.  
"Of course. She was happy to be able to attend Beacon." Ozpin answered.

"I think I'm going accept your offer." Viridian replied. He still didn't trust Ozpin, but he at least was able to convince himself he could be wrong.

...

"Explain to me how you lost to a child?" Sol Apollo asked. Apollo wears a white lab coat, and one red cybernetic eye, mismatching his natural eye's yellow color.

"Technically, only Rocky lost to a child. I had to retreat because Limone Y'lo appeared. A fight with him would allow the target to escape." Aquamarine explained.

"I underestimated him. It won't happen again." Rocky apologized.  
"Good, because if it happens again, we might have to use you for Project Black Ghost." Luna Artemis warned. Artemis wore a black lab coat which was otherwise identical to her associate. Project Black Ghost was an experiment that Eclipse was planning for the future.

"Aquamarine, I want you to find out what the huntsman knows about our operations." Luna ordered. Aquamarine left to find Limone Y'lo. He already had an idea of how to find him.  
"Rocky, my boy, you are going to handle a less significant task." Sol explained.

"Indigo Ferra."


	2. The past holds the key to the future

**The second chapter. These first chapter are going into who every character is, why they're here. How Eclipse is connected to them.**

* * *

 **...**

 _ **The past holds the key to the future**_

 _"Grimm log 1-6: Finding Subjects to study has proven difficult, but I may have come across a breakthrough. When more powerful Grimm are captured, they will spend significantly more time trying to escape than less powerful variations of the same Grimm species. This may suggest that as the Grimm grow stronger, they also grow wiser. Further research will test this theory."_

...

Indigo Goferra approached an island temple belonging to a fallen kingdom. She watched for traps. The security systems were designed to remain functional after centuries. Most of them were either destroyed by Grimm or don't work as they were intended, but any exceptions can kill.

"What have we here?" Indigo found a weak point in a wall. She shot that point with ice dust, to weaken it more, then punched the ice to shatter it.

"Ow! Not doing that again." Indigo rubbed her fist as she entered the temple. She lacked proper combat training. She could use her semblance to protect herself. Offensive application was beyond her expertise.

Numerous lights were active in the temple.  
"What are you running on?" Indigo asked. She walked along the corridors, following a trail of wires the lights were connected to. The trail led to a generator room.

"Hmm. Someone's been here before me." Indigo began inspecting the generator. Parts of it were more old, but not nearly as old as the temple. Someone made improvements and repairs. She looked around the room and saw barrels.  
"Schnee dust." The Schnee Dust Company definitely wasn't around when the temple was abandoned.

Indigo turned around. "Don't you have anything batter to do?" Indigo asked.  
"I'm here for something my bosses want something that you have." Rocky Rhodes replied.

"That's going to be three things." Indigo replied. Indigo hid her hands behind her back, and pushed several buttons on her left hand's new bracer.  
"Really? What're they?" Rocky asked. Indigo continued to use the buttons.

"You already know the first. The second is Aquamarine's ship. And the third is right behind you." Indigo said. Rocky turned around to see nothing. Indigo shot him in the back of the head with ice dust. He swung blindly, trying to hit Indigo, and instead punched the generator, causing an explosion.

Indigo was able to escape the room before he destroyed it, and rushed to find a way out of the temple. She stopped as she passed a room filled with computers, and entered it.

"What have we here?" Indigo asked. Indigo began looking through one of the computer's files. "Oh, Eclipse definitely is going to want this." Indigo pulled out her scroll and plugged it into a port on the computer to transfer a large file. "And done!" Indigo removed her scroll.

Rocky smashed through a wall.  
"You're gonna to wish you'd killed me with that shot." Rhodes threatened. He punched the floor, shaking the temple, and creating a large hole in the floor.

"Idiot, you realize this place is built over Grimm filled caverns?" Indigo asked. A Beowolf started climbing out of holes in the caves below them.

"I just found out." Rocky replied. He punched the Beowolf back into the hole. A hundred more glowing red eyes appeared in the dark cave.

"Bye, buddy!" Indigo pushed Rocky into the cave.  
"You little—Aaauuugh!" The many Grimm rushed towards Rocky. He was quickly surrounded by the army of Grimm. Indigo used this as an opportunity to escape.

...

A scavenger wearing in a white tank top, grey jeans, and black boots, all of which were dirty. She also had goggles on her hair. climbed out of a scrap pile to see Indigo standing in front of her.  
"Ellie! It's been a while!" Indigo embraced the scavenger, who was frozen in a brief moment of rage.

"You were actually stupid enough to come see me!" The scavenger pulled out her weapons. Guided Chain Gun Blade. A chained blade weapon with small gun barrels on the chains.

"Come on, Electricity, we're friends." Indigo tried to calm her friend.  
"Oh that's not going to work this time! I lost everything because of you!" Electricity replied, angrily.  
"It's okay, I can fix it." Indigo promised.

"How are you planning to do that?" Electricity asked.  
"The ship I'm using has the cloaking generator. You can keep it, if you help me with this one." Indigo explained. Electricity didn't trust Indigo, but this is possibly the only chance she'll get return to her old life.

"What's in it for you?" Electricity asked.

"Payback." Indigo answered.

...

"To think that this has been here all this time." Artemis said. She and Apollo both visited the temple, which Aquamarine just cleared of Grimm.

"Unbelievable! All of the notes relating to Project Eclipse are gone!" Apollo yelled. Artemis looked at another computer.

"We still have the Grimm research notes." Artemis noted.  
"Won't do us much good because they were written to only make sense to the same person that wrote them!" Apollo complained.

"Wouldn't the results be written in the same way?" Aquamarine asked. Apollo punched the computer, cracking the screen.  
"Relax, Dr. Apollo. At least now we can learn about the secrets of the Grimm. We can start from scratch if all else fails." Artemis reminded.

"How are we going to build our army?" Apollo asked.  
"We still have Viridis." Aquamarine answered.  
"I guess that's true. With Viridian Viridis, we can finish what the Doctor started." Apollo said, regaining his confidence.


	3. Death and taxes

**Now we're follow the story of the kid genius. The mechanic from the train. His robot arms were inspired by Doctor Octopus, a Spiderman villian.**

 **Also, the full release of RWBY Grimm Eclipse is coming June 5th! I am really interested in the story, because I think Dr. Merlot has similar goals to one of my characters, and it might explore the Grimm more. I'm interested in finding out why Dr. Merlot would have these interests.**

 **The Eclipse does things FOR SCIENCE! as opposed to Dr. Rifleman, who wants to protect humanity using science. I'm looking forward to finding out which of the two Merlot falls under. Or better yet, see a different character motivation that would lead to someone experimenting on Grimm.**

* * *

 **...**

 **Death and taxes**

 _"Grimm Log 2-3: After analyzing areas known for high Grimm population, I discovered all of them either had some significant events that included a lot of death, or were overrun by the Grimm. I wonder why they deliberately are intent on creating chaos."_

...

Rusty Steele scaled the side of a building using Steelemarch, his robotic leg pack. Steele observed the inside of the office to have been entered already. Evidence of a battle occuring involving a lot of gun usage could be seen all over the walls. However, there was no sign of any deaths, which means that the people inside are no longer present.

Rusty used Steelemarch's lasers to cut a hole into a window, and carefully lower it to the ground without drawing attention from anyone that could be inside the building. Rusty quietly moved through the building. He used his normal legs, as they made less noise. An Atlesian soldier lying under a table attempted to signal Rusty without being seen.

Rusty noticed his movements, and walked over to him. "What happened here?" Rusty asked.  
"We were attacked. Someone shut down your security, and took one of our Bullheads." The wounded solider answered, speaking slowly to avoid straining himself.

"Shut down Gunmetal Industries security? How?" Rusty asked.  
"I don't know. I think it was something with her semblance." The soldier replied. Rusty knew which semblance

"Can you contact anyone from your airship?" Rusty asked.  
"Negative, something's blocking my scroll's communications." The soldier answered. Rusty lifted the table with a mechanical limb, freeing the soldier.

"The building has a communications jammer. Whoever took over security knew to keep it online." Rusty explained. He accessed a console, and used his semblance to reset the security.

"I'm getting an incoming transmission." The soldier said.  
"I'll answer it. You should check to see if anyone else is still here." Rusty instructed. The soldier gave Rusty the scroll. Rusty opened it and responded to the transmission.

"Control to ground team? Does anyone copy?" An Atlesian commander asked.  
"This is Rusty Steele. I found one of your men's scroll's. He's currently searching for the rest of your ground team." Rusty reported.  
"What are you doing here?" The commander asked.  
"I was sent by my father to investigate why he hadn't recieved a report on the deal he made with your team." Rusty explained.

"I understand that the people who attacked the ground team also hijacked their Bullhead." Rusty noted.  
"We are aware. Two of them used it to board our ship." The commander reported.  
"Do you know why?" Rusty asked.

"They attempted to access our files, but we are unaware of why they did so." The commander explained.  
"Were you able to identify any of them?" Rusty asked.  
"We were unable to capture either of the two attackers." The commander reported. This was a lie.

...

An Atlas General entered the cell with one prisoner hidden in shadow.  
"So, are you here to interrogate me or make some speech about what prison I'm going to?" The prisoner asked.  
"I'm more interested in finding out what files you stole." The General replied.  
"Okay. Your going to make a speech while interrogating me. Got it." The prisoner replied. The General noticed the prisoner's strategy. Avoid answering his questions using sarcastic remarks.

"You're young." He responded.  
"What's that supposed to me?" The prisoner asked, confused by the statement.  
"Someone your age shouldn't be going to prison. If you answer my questions, I can arrange for you to be assigned to Atlas Academy." The General offered.

"Sounds like the kind of offer that Damascus Steele gives." The prisoner noted. The General was aware of who Damascus Steele was. A master swordsman and former owner of Gunmetal industries. He recruited criminals who acted as secret assassin's to eliminate his enemies.

"True. I have a mission for you, if you agree to my offer." The General admitted. The prisoner started thinking.  
"Other than my freedom, what do I get in return?" The prisoner asked.  
"A purpose. I know you haven't had that in a while." The General answered.

"My partner was looking for files on some guy named Viridian Viridis." The prisoner explained. The General heard this name before.  
"Do you know why your partner is interested in him?" The General asked.  
"No. I was on a need-to-know basis." The prisoner replied.  
"That's unfortunate. But I can still use you for that mission." The General said.

"No one outside this prison cell can know of your mission." The General warned.  
"Then it's a good thing I trust you more than my backstabbing friend." The prisoner said, as she walked out of the shadows. Electricity shook the General's white gloved hand.


	4. An unknown enemy

**This character is actually related to a character mentioned in RWBY. Have fun trying to figure out who he is; I'm pretty sure most of the fanbase doesn't even remember he exists.**

* * *

 **...**

 ** _An unknown enemy_**

 _"Grimm Log 2-4: It's as if they feed off of chaos to gain strength. Is that their motive? Use humanity to create chaos for to feed on? It makes me question or history with them. In the times before Dust, they easily could have eradicated us. Did we survive only because they allowed us to? Are we alive right now, only because they need us?"_

...

A sailor entered the docks, to enter Vale. He gripped his weapon, Hydrospear, while quietly walking through the docks. He was uncertain of if anyone else was there. All he knew was that he spotted the same Eclipse gunship he saw a few months ago. And Eclipse was the group responsible for making his father disappear.

The sailor moved towards the gunship, and pointed his rifle at the cockpit. He noticed it was open. He sprinted towards the ship, risking breaking silence to get close. There was no sign of anyone nearby, which only made him remain more cautious of his surroundings.

A closer look showed the gunship had been redesigned. It still resembled a Nevermore, however, it had been repainted to make the ship look less like sinister villain's ship, and more like a troubled teen's. It also had the Eclipse logo hidden by the new paint job. The sailor entered the cockpit, and accessed it's navigation computer. The gunship had tracking system coordinates set for Beacon Academy's airship. The sailor was going to attend Beacon in a few days, and recognized the coordinates from a message sent to his scroll.

While the gunship obviously belonged to another student, what was that student's ties to Eclipse? They weren't popular among Huntsmen. Which means whoever this student is, they could be a spy. One that's been able to infiltrate Beacon inconspicuously. The sailor was going to have to look out throughout his school year in Beacon. He can't trust anyone. Because any one of the other students could be working for Eclipse.

...

"This is incredible." Luna said. She finished reviewing the research notes. "What is it?" Sol asked. "The Doctor's research on Grimm. They aren't much more than speculation, but most scientists today support the ideas." Luna replied. "I'm not as concerned about the Grimm, as I am for our nonexistant army of perfect soldiers." Sol said angrily. He had an army, but they were far from perfect. With Project Eclipse, he could recreate the perfect army created by the Doctor. This army would have existed, had Atlas not interfered.

"Be patient, my friend. We'll learn Viridis's whereabouts soon enough." Luna assured her partner. Viridian Viridis was the key to recreating Project Eclipse. "Unless the huntsmen figure out what he is." Apollo noted. Without Viridian, they had nothing to recreate it from. They would be fishing with no bait. Their odds of catching fish were slimmer without him.

"Lets not forget that whoever attacked Rocky Rhodes might have the notes your missing. I doubt anyone can make sense of them without coming to us." Luna added. Rocky Rhodes went missing after his encounter with Goferra. Eclipse believed him dead. "It won't do us any good if we don't know who that is." Apollo noted. Indigo Goferra had no idea what the notes meant, but she was able to figure out that Viridian Viridis was connected to Eclipse's goals.

"If Atlas learns what we're doing, our whole operation is shut down." Appollo added. Fortunately, Atlas was distracted by a different project because of a different threat. "It won't come to that. The Huntsmen are so focused trying to take out the big players that we can move around freely." Luna replied. The Huntsmen had the threat of Cinder Fall looming on them. To Eclpise, her actions could vary between being a helpful distraction to unintended assistence.

The only person aware of Eclipse's actions was being mislead by Goferra's stolen ship. Their plans could seemingly be executed without interference. But there was one thing they didn't account for. All threats of to their plans were going to Beacon Academy. And they were going to form the team that would stop them.


	5. First impressions

**VIRG (pronounced Virgo incase you were wondering.) is kind of set up to fight Eclipse. Viridian is the key to their plan, Indigo is an enemy of them, Rusty Steele has his own reasons, and the last guy (whose name is a walking spoiler I plan on saving for a much more dramatic point.) thinks that Eclipse has a spy in Beacon, although he might not be wrong...**

 **Anyway, I've seen Dr. Merlot in Grimm Eclpise. Based on some stuff he did** **, it seems like he has similiar goals the The Doctor that Eclipse's leaders are obssessed with. I'm telling you this because you don't know what The Doctor's goals are, and therefore have concept of what it means to the story, but it still lets you come up with ideas.**

 **...**

 **First impressions**

 _"Grimm log 3-3: I've been analyzing different Grimm varients, but I have yet to find all known varients of Grimm. There are so many variants that only appear during times of chaos. It's almost as if they're hiding to keep me from studying them. If only I could just study them as them while they're attacking. But that's even harder than capturing them._

...

Rusty Steele looked at Beacon Academy, which was just in front of him.  
 _"Here I am going to begin a journey to change the world."_ Rusty monologued to himself internally.

 _"I'll be easily recognized as the richest, most powerful student..."_ Rusty paused as he watched Weiss Schnee pasted. An argument of who was better known was pointless. Even if he could win, it still counters his current point.

 _"Well, I'm still the youngest student..."_ Rusty's thought was interrupted by an explosion. When the black cloud of exploded dust cleared, he saw Ruby Rose, soon to be nicknamed "Crater Face". Based on her short size, it became apparent to Rusty that he might not be.  
 _"I'm still the youngest MALE..."_ Rusty stopped when he noticed Viridian Viridis holding his bow in the direction of the explosion. Viridian's appearance suggested he was around the same size as he was.

"Oh, come on!" Rusty yelled. Viridian noticed the his fellow student's yelling, and decided to walk over to find the cause.  
"Hi, I'm Viridian." He introduced himself.  
"Rusty Steele." Rusty Steele replied, attempting to conceal his rage.

"Wait, your a Steele? Like the ones that own Gunmetal Industries?" Viridian asked. Viridian heard of them through Weapons Magazine. They feature many of Gunmetal Industries products and advertise their custom weapons commissions. Even if you have the Schnee's status, product placement is important.

"Yes." Rusty answered calmly. He doesn't usually get recognized as a Steele by people that aren't working with, for, or against Gunmetal Industries.  
"Cool. I thought Ruby was the only other person my age going to Beacon." Viridian noted.  
"Wait a minute, you know the girl over there?" Rusty asked, pointing to Weiss, Ruby, and Blake Belladonna, who was interjecting.

"Uh, which one?" Viridian asked. He recognized Ruby, but the other two he'd never seen before.  
"The young one." Rusty answered.  
"Oh, yeah. We went to Signal." Viridian replied.

Viridian remembered something he had been told recently, and attempted to slowly walked away.  
"What are you doing?" Rusty asked, following Viridian.  
"I've been told I should avoid her." Viridian answered, refusing to turn his head back.

"What? Why?" Rusty asked.  
"If I see her before she starts making friends, I will be punched and/or shot in the face." Viridian stated blankly.

"And, or?" Rusty asked. He's heard of being shot in the face and punched in the face, but never both at the same time.  
"She didn't threaten to use a Shotgauntlet, but it was implied." Viridian replied. Viridian did not want to pick a fight with the person he was talking about.

Indigo Goferra noticed Viridian talking to Rusty. "Is that Rusty Steele?" Indigo asked, as she walked up to the two.  
"How do you know my name?" Rusty asked. He found it suspicious that Indigo knew his first and last name. Most people only recognize him by his last name.

"I'm friends with one of your siblings." Indigo answered. This was the truth. Rusty wasn't even going to waste time asking which of his many siblings. It didn't matter to him.  
"Who are you again?" Rusty asked.  
"Indigo Goferra." Indigo replied. She doubted that Rusty knew who she was. Even if he heard the name, he'd probably ignore it.

"Hmm. Well, I'm Viridian Viridis." Viridian interjected. Indigo realized she was standing next to the same person she came to Beacon to see.  
"Why are you looking at me like that?" Viridian asked. Indigo realized how suspicious she looked. Staring at a stranger.  
"Your name sounds familiar." Indigo quickly replied.  
"Yeah, I'm not surprised." Viridian muttered. Rusty recognized the feeling Viridian was feeling at the moment.

"You three are aware that Headmaster Ozpin will be giving his speech inside." The sailor interjected.  
"Wait, is it time already?" Indigo asked.  
"No, I was just making sure all of you were aware." The sailor replied. His true goal was to eavesdrop on conversations to locate the possible spy.

"Well, thanks. Well keep that in mind." Rusty looked in the distance.  
"I should find a way inside early, so I don't get punched and/or shot in the face." Viridian added, as he left the group.

"And, or?" Indigo asked.  
"Yeah, apparently some girl with "Shotgauntlets" wants him to stay away from some other girl." Rusty explained.  
"I'll see you another time." The sailor added, as he left.

...


	6. The pawns move first

**It would appear that the team has been introduced. Also, Team RWBY cameo. Except Yang. She only got referenced. Team RWBY will be more important later on, hence their listing in the characters. More accurately, they will become increasingly important in each arc. And this chapter introduces** **a recurring character that you should be able to recognize.**

* * *

 **...**

 ** _The pawns move first_**

 _"Grimm log 3-5: I remembered an old saying. "Secrets lie beneath the surface. To find them we must dig in the right spot." The saying wasn't intended to be used to find Grimm, but it's given me ideas."_

...

Viridian Viridis used a grapnel built into his crossbow to swing from one large tree and land on another. Viridian made a long list of reasons why he likes trees.

Viridian jumped from tree to tree. The sailor as he had the same idea. The two found each other while in the trees.  
"I guess we're working together." Viridian said.  
"That's how it is." The sailor replied. He was not happy to see Viridian, but he was great at concealing emotions behind stoicism. "Something wrong?" Viridian asked. Viridian is better at detecting emotions, and he knew his new partner was hiding something.

"No." The sailor lied. "We should keep moving." The sailor suggested.  
"Wait, you were the guy that reminded me to go see Ozpin's speech." Viridian recognized the sailor.

"My name is Gray." The sailor said.  
"I'm Viridian." Viridian replied. He wasn't sure what his new teammate was hiding. He suspected Gray might have been sent by Ozpin. To spy on him.

"The North temple is somewhere in that direction." Viridian fired an arrow in a direction. Gray was holding a compass.  
"According to my compass, you're off by a couple degrees." Gray noted.  
"According to your compass, we're near a moving pole." Viridian replied.  
"What?" Gray looked at his malfunctioning contraption, which usually worked fine.

"One of the other students is manipulating polarity." Viridian identified the problem. Pyrrha Nikos, one of the other students. Her Polarity semblance was unintentionally interfering with Gray's compass.  
"How do you know where your going?" Gray asked.

"The trees." Viridian replied, as he moved deeper into the Forest. Gray reluctantly followed.

...

Indigo Goferra fired wind dust from her pistol to create a vortex which slowed her fall. She excelled at improvising, and adapting to the unexpected. Exactly what creating a landing strategy was about.

Grimm were mobilizing through the Forest to attack the landing students. They were attracted by the fear of many of the nervous students, like Jaune Arc, who lacked this ability to adapt, and panicked in midflight.

And Goferra landed in front of three of them. She now felt a sense of sympathy for Rocky Rhodes.

She drew Desperado Roulette, and quickly shot the heads of three Ursai with different elements. One Ursa was ignited by flame. Another head was frozen and wildly attacked similarly to Rocky Rhodes. And the last Ursa was electrocuted, frying it's brain.

Rusty landed on the Frozen Bear, using his mechanical arms to absorb all of the impact. He designed Steelemarch to make leaps similar to the launch that started the test. He had years of practicing his landing strategy.

The two were equally disappointed that they were not partnered with Viridian.  
"You didn't happen to see where Viridian might be?" Indigo asked. Indigo wanted to find Viridian quickly. He needed to be on her team for her plan to work.

"No, I was too busy spotting the temple." Rusty replied. Rusty tried to remain focused on the objective. Finding the Relics at the temple on the Northern side of the Forest. Fortunately, he has good eyesight.

"You found it quickly." Indigo noted. She knew more than enough to find the temple on her own. She's been looting old temples for almost as long as she's been alive. But finding Viridian was her priority.  
"There's a few structures in a clearing just outside of the Forest." Rusty explained. "But I couldn't see the relics exact location." Steele noted.

"It's probably close to the entrance." Indigo guessed. Indigo knew from experience that the inside of temples is dangerous. She would tell you to ask Rocky Rhodes, but you already know what happened to him.  
"If we move quickly, we might be the first ones there." Rusty added. Indigo liked this idea because it would give her an excuse to wait for Viridian.

...

Viridian and Grey reached the temple first. None of the relics have been touched.  
"Chess pieces." Grey observed. There were four of every piece. Two pieces black, two pieces gold.  
"Twenty relics." Viridian noted. He paced around the different pieces.

"What are you doing?" Grey asked.  
"I think it's a test within the test." Viridian answered.  
"What does that mean?" Grey lacked Viridian's paranoid thinking.

"The chess pieces determine who our teammates will be. We should choose carefully." Viridian explained.  
"What are you waiting around here for?" Grey pointed his rifle at the third person to arrive. Cardin Winchester.


	7. The touch-move rule

**Cardin is the recurring character that I mentioned. Also, did you see the RWBY Chibi refrence?**

 **I'm planning on using Cardin and his team as the team JNPR of this fanfic. Why? Because they are canon characters, with minor roles in volumes 1-3, which is when I would need them most. It also helps with some other plot stuff I'm planning involving team RWBY.**

* * *

 **...**

 _ **The Touch-move rule**_

 _Grimm log 3-6: I have been able to confirm that inactive land Grimm hide in underground caverns. Isolating them is difficult, but I have found numerous live specimens. Regretably, they die before I can learn much about them, but what I do learn is very valuable._

"You said we'd get here before the other students." Russel Thrush noted to Cardin. Cardin managed to find three other students and lead them to the temple. But Viridian was better at navigating forrests.  
"I said we'd be here before MOST of the other students." Cardin corrected.  
"From what I can tell, we're pretty early." Grey added.

Viridian moved around several of the pieces. "Now what are you doing?" Grey asked.  
"Each of these pieces is used differently. I'm choosing carefully." Viridian answered. Cardin picked up a black bishop piece.

"You played chess before?" Cardin asked.  
"As a kid, I memorized chess games I watched to learn how to beat players." Viridian replied. As a kid, Viridian memorized a lot of things. Chess was not one.

Cardin's other teammates picked up the second black bishop. "Bishop. Moves diagonal. Third strongest piece." Viridian identified the piece they choose.

"What piece are you going to choose?" Grey asked. Viridian picked up a black pawn.  
"Pawns. Move first. Switched for other pieces when they cross the board." Viridian replied.

Rusty Steele landed from the sky with Indigo on his back.  
"I am not flying with you again." Indigo noted, before noticing Viridian had picked up a chess piece. She quickly grabbed an identical piece.  
"I got us here, didn't I?" Rusty asked.

Rusty noticed Viridian among the students staring at them. "I should have known we'd see each other again." He said.  
"Yeah, that's how this usually goes." Viridian muttered.

"Now, we have to make it back without getting killed." Cardin noted.  
"Who's that guy?" Indigo asked.  
"On another team." Grey replied.  
"Cardin Winchester." Cardin introduced himself.

"If we go that way, we should make it back to the mountains." Viridian noted, firing an arrow in a direction vaguely east.  
"If we move across them, we should be able to make it back to the the cliff safely."

"Wait a minute, who put you in charge?" Cardin asked. "If we go back the way we came, we should be able to leave quickly if we fight our way through whatever Grimm are left." He suggested.  
"That's risky. We shouldn't waste our time with unnecessary conflict." Viridian replied.  
"Ozpin did say to burn anything in our path." Cardin retorted.

"In my experience, the Grimm are more dangerous when you decide to sit around arguing." Indigo interjected. This conflict would attract Grimm towards them. Unless a greater source of conflict cancelled it. But only equals and inferiors existed at the moment.

"How about you take your team back the way you came, and I take my team through the mountains." Viridian asked.  
"Lets make it a race. See which team gets to the cliff first." Cardin offered.  
"Sure, whatever." Viridian answered. As long as he was well out of range of the other students, he had no problem.

...

"Exploring the mountain range? We won't be able to see them out there." Glynda noted. She and Ozpin monitered the students in the Emerald forest.  
"We weren't going to interfere anyway." Ozpin replied, remaining calm. "Besides, if we did attempt to follow him, it would only increase his distrust of us." Ozpin added.

"I don't know why you brought him here in the first place." Glynda said. "You know what he really is."

"And that is exactly why he needs to be here." Ozpin answered.

...

"And your sure this is the safest path?" Grey asked, as their unformed team reached the mountain.  
"We go up the mountain, and keep going. There should only be a few wandering Grimm." Viridian answered.

Viridian fired a grapnel from his weapons crossbow form. Grapnel latched on a rock high above them, and pulled Viridian upwards. Indigo fired a similar grapnel from her pistol, and Gray did the same with his rifle.  
"Oh, I see how it is." Rusty muttered, before climbing up the mountains with his robotic legs.

Teal Aquamarine watched the team from atop the mountain, using a sniper rifle he "borrowed" from a "former partner".  
"I told you they would come to us." Aquamarine said to his new temporary partner.


	8. Unexpected arrivals

**A response to my reviewer. I am currently experimenting with how I want to deliver the story. I actually revised it several times because I'm still unsure exactly what the story should look like, which is why I value your feedback. In the future, I will attempt to correct these issues. It should be easiest here, because this is a more action based chapter than dialogue, liek the others were.**

 **...**

 **Unexpected arrivals**

 _"Grimm Log 4-1: I have heard stories of many monsters. There's a little truth behind every legend, and I intend to find the truth behind the Grimm."_

Aquamarine kept his weapon aimed carefully. He only needed to stop Viridian. But then he noticed a familiar face. The face of the thief that stole his ship.  
"Goferra."

The rage at seeing her awakened a powerful Grimm, whom lay dormant inside of the mountain for thousands of years. It caused a small quake as it attempted to free itself. The students stopped, questioning what was happening.

Aquamarine fired his borrowed weapon at Indigo, instead of his target. Indigo was frozen by an explosion of ice dust, causing her to fall. The others looked to Aquamarine's revealed position.

Rusty used his guns on his upper mechanical legs to fire rapidly at Aquamarine, forcing him away from his position. Aquamarine leaped from one rock to another, and holstered his sniper so he could use his prefered weapon.

Aquamarine's new partner was ready to reveal himself. He had armor similar to Aquamarine's, with the differences being his gauntlets. They were his weapons. Wrist Mounted Dust Projectors. They used dust cylinders to activate wind based dust, which acted similarly to a wind turbine. Aquamarine's partner propelled himself upwards before switching his dust.

Gray fired a shot, which grazed the weapon. The shot flew past at enough speed to reverse the cylinders spinning. It was fired after stopping on wind. The weapon blasted it's user away from the mountain, instead of blasting his foes with ice dust.

He reacted quickly, using the next shot to propel him toward Rusty. He grabbed Rusty with one arm, and used the second to aim his weapon for Rusty's face. Rusty used his normal right arm to catch his wrist and aim it towards the sky.

Viridian grappled towards Aquamarine. Aquamarine activated his main guns blade form. He did not intend to face the child in sword combat before. Limone's interference forced him to change plans.

But this time he had an understanding of Viridian's weapons and abilities. Viridian swung his sword downwards, before it was blocked by Aquamarine's blade. "You're going to wish that Limone never interfered." Teal threatened.

Indigo was not entirely frozen. Her aura protected her body from the ice. She had limited space to move, but her fingers were around her weapons trigger. She fired a fire dust shot, which shattered the ice.

She quickly used her grapple hook to grab Aquamarine's partner. The hook pulled him with enough force to make him release Rusty, who was held in place by his robotic legs. When she reached Aquamarine's partner, she kicked off if him, and grappled towards her friends.

Viridian leaped backwards. Jaded Edge changed into it's crossbow form, and fired an arrow through the rock Aquamarine was standing on. The rock shattered, send Aquamarine into the air.

He drove his blade into the side of the mountain, slowing his fall as it dragged him down, until it eventually held him in place near the edge of a rock.

Gray fired his rifle at Aquamarine, but his Grimm themed armor protected him. It didn't just look scary, but it also made injuring him more difficult, even if his aura were depleted.

Aquamarine learned from his last encounter that he should be prepared for unexpected interference.  
"Plan B, then." He used his semblance to build up energy.  
"Oh, not again!" Indigo had already seen this semblance in action. Aquamarine created an explosion of force.

The other students dismissed this as a missed shot from one of their fellow students. It wouldn't have been the first. But the other students weren't the only ones watching.

No one was close enough to Aquamarine when he exploded to be affected. They all watched as he fell, only to quickly stop himself by stabbing another rock. His partner rocketed upwards using air dust.

Indigo fired an ice shot at his left arm, disabling one of his weapons, and altering his balance. He angled towards his left, crashing into a rock.  
"That guy's not very good at this." Rusty commented.  
"He's lasted a lot longer than the last one I fought." Viridian noted, remembering Rocky Rhodes. He wondered why he wasn't among the attackers. "I think they have more of them out there." Viridian warned.

Gray watched carefully. He spotted another individual in the distance. He was running across the mountain. He had appearance of a monk. He was bald, tattood and wore orange robes.

"I see one." Gray replied. He aimed his weapon carefully. He fired, hitting the ground right in front of the runner. He stepped on a shattering rock, and lost his balance. He recovered by spinning at rapid speeds, propelling him in their direction. Dust followed his hands as he spun.

Aquamarine grabbed his partner's arm and tossed him upwards. Rusty used his mechanical legs to catch him in midair, and throw him into the mountain, shattering rocks as he smashed his way into a Grimm cave. This was the same cave of the awoken Grimm was in. As well as some more powerful sleeping Grimm that awaited a moment of chaos powerful enough to awaken them.  
"déjà vécu." Indigo muttered.

"Ash!" The runner yelled, witnessing his friend enter the cave. Ash was sent out of the cave with damaged armor. One of his boots was lost, his helmet was cracked showing one of his terrified eyes, and the rest of his armor was so scratched up, it looked as if it had been found in one of Electricity's junk pile.

A Grimm Lizard crawled out of the cave. It had armor around it's head, and white spikes across it's back, and glowing red eyes. "Four dash five." Viridian muttered. These were important numbers.

"Basilisk!" Ash shouted. His time working for Eclipse helped him recognize the names and appearances of many species. This one was known as the scariest Grimm for it's menacing eyes. And they were focused on the person that awoke him: Teal Aquamarine.


	9. The Basilisk

**The Grimm Basilisk! I came up with the creature in Volume 1. Named for the king of Serpents, the Basilisk. A legendary creature that brought venom wherever it went, spat on it's enemies and could strike down a man with it's deadly gaze. It's a ridiculous story, but it was inspired by the King Cobra, which is my favorite snake.**

 **You also kight have noticed that Viridian moved the puzzle pieces around. Everyone that noticed that the relics moved between scenes now have someone to blame for the confusion.**

* * *

 ** _The Basilisk_**

 _"Grimm Log 4-5: I recently encountered a new variant of Grimm. The Basilisk. What I find most interesting about them is the ability they possess, which I haven't seen in any other Grimm. I believe it might be the key to learning the origins of the Grimm."_

...

The Basilisk was rarely ever seen. It usually followed larger species into overrun kingdoms. It was twice the size of an Ursa, and the mystery behind it added to it's intimidating appearance. Ash threw a ball at the large Grimm. The ball exploded in the face of the Basilisk, blinding it temporarily.

The runner activated his weapons. Dual Palm Dust Projectors. Cannons on his hands that could focus Dust to use it more aggressively. He put his hands together, creating a sphere around his hands. He threw the sphere, which created an explosion of Earth Dust, closing the hole in the mountain.

"Retreat!" Aquamarine ordered. Continuing to fight would only awaken more Grimm. He knew that more powerful Grimm than the Basilisk were waiting to be awakened. A Bullhead arrived to pickup the three. As they ran to board it, Indigo fired several shots at them, none of them hitting the three. Viridian fired an arrow onto the gunship as it flew away.

Rusty used his mechanical legs to leap over the Basilisk. He fired lasers at the Grimm's back, but this had little effect on it's armor. The Basilisk charged toward Indigo. She jumped backwards, falling off the cliff. Basilisk leaped towards a higher point on the mountain. Indigo used her grapple hook to swing towards another rock. The Basilisk spat black goo in Gray's direction. Beowolves crawled out of the dark puddle.

"We need a plan!" Rusty shouted. He grabbed a Beowolf, and tossed it off of the cliff. This was far from an ordinary Grimm attack.  
"We can't fight them all. The Basilisk spawns more Grimm when it dies." Viridian warned. He fired an arrows at several Beowolves. He knew exactly what they were facing, and he didn't like it.

"How do you know that?" Grey asked. Grey used Hydrospear to shoot the heads of the many Beowolves. Grey knew about many Grimm variants. The Basilisk was not one. The only people he knew that recognized it was Eclipse.

"Your my partner. I need you to trust me on this." Viridian replied. He didn't have time to explain why he knew what he did. Viridian watched the Emerald Forest.  
"You got a plan?" Grey asked.  
"You could say that." Viridian replied. He had exceptionally good eyesight, and could see battles across the Forest. Specifically, he saw one near the location they found the relics that gave him inspiration for the plan he devised.

He transformed Jaded Edge into a sword. He jumped over of the Basilisk, and sliced a Beowolf in half. Indigo used her grapple hook to pull a Beowolf into the air, so she could slam it into the Basilisk. The Basilisk looked at Indigo. It leaped towards her much faster than before. Rusty jumped towards it, grabbing it in midair. He jumped off it, forcing it to go in the opposite direction: Down. The Basilisk smashed into the ground, but it crawled out. Grey jumped down and punched it, creating a large explosion similar to Aquamarine's.

The Basilisk survived, using it's claws to cling to the side of the mountain, as if it were standing on level ground. Indigo jumped down, firing a Ice Dust shot at the Basilisk's right fore leg it. Grey used Hydrospear to smash the frozen limb, injuring the Grimm. Rusty used Steelemarch to throw Viridian into the air. Indigo fired a wind dust shot, creating a tornado that propelled Viridian higher. Gray fired the blade of Hydrospear past Viridian, allowing him to catch the rope it was attached to. Grey pulled Viridian towards the ground. Viridian let go of the rope. He entered the Grimm through it's mouth and cut the Basilisk in half from the inside.

Rather than dissipating, the Basilisk melted into more of the black goo. The goo moved off of Viridian as if it were water, but clung to the walls like a slime. More Beowolves crawled out of the goo, but they found no students to fight.

...

"So, we're a team now." Grey noted, shortly after the team entered their dorm for the first time.

"I can't stop thinking about Eclipse." Viridian said. He had too many unanswered questions about them, and the list was only growing longer.  
"What about them?" Indigo's question was not one of them.  
"How did they know I was going to go through the mountains?" Viridian answered the question with one of his questions.

"I didn't mention this before, but I've suspected that one of the other students was with Eclipse." Grey answered. After forming the team, he concluded that none of them could have been the student he was looking for.  
"What makes you say that?" Rusty asked. Rusty wouldn't make such a guess without evidence.

"I found a ship that used to belong to Eclipse. It was customized, but it was the same ship one of their lieutenants used." Gray explained.  
"Oh, yeah, I stole that from Aquamarine. The sword guy." Indigo realized that Gray found her ship.

"In order to know exactly where we were, they would need access to the cameras." Rusty explained. The people who had this were on a short list.  
"So it's probably someone among the Beacon staff." Indigo replied.

Viridian questioned who he could trust. Was he wrong to trust Ozpin? "We can't tell anyone. They might tip off the spy." Viridian said. He was willing to trust his team. At least for the moment.  
"When we know more, we'll tell them." Grey noted, as he got into bed.

The others got into their beds as well. But Viridian did not sleep. He had questioned he didn't ask his team. Not all of them were about Eclipse.


	10. Know your friends

**I made the Eclipse logo, and used it as the picture for this fanfic. I designed using Google Docs on my Ipad. It took me about a hour to move from Google Drive to here because I decided to revise the chapters. I felt the logo should be added, because this is the end of arc 1. Not the volume itself, but this somewhat an ending.**

 **I also got another review. The Baz. I appreciate the offer, but I don't currently plan on having team VIRG interact with the other teams much, because plot reasons. However, I might reconsider** **it during the Vytal tournament, where they'd be competing against other teams.**

 **Update: I reuploaded the chapter because I felt like some of the stuff from next chapter should be here. I imagine this is what Monty felt when he'd finish the second part of a volume 1 chapter** **.**

* * *

 **...**

 ** _Know your friends_**

 _"Grimm log 4-6: I've discovered that the Basilisk's unique ability is a result of it spawning directly from a much more powerful Grimm variant. It remains dormant, and my attempts to awaken it have only summoned more Basilisk's. I believe studying this new variant can revolutionize our knowledge of the Grimm, and create a new era of scientific discovery._

...

"Viridian?" Yang easily recognize Viridis among the many students outside Beacon.  
"Why?" Viridian asked himself. He wasn't exactly thrilled to see Yang.  
"You got into Beacon early, like Ruby?" Yang asked.  
"Why else would I be here?" Viridian asked.

"Can I ask you to do something." Yang asked.  
"What is it?" Viridian asked.

"Stay away from Ruby." Yang answered.  
'You sound like your dad." Viridian noted. Taiyang did NOT like Viridian.  
"It's not about that." Yang insisted. "Ruby needs to open up to other people. The only way she'll do that is if she needs to."

"How is that my problem?" Viridian asked.  
"I need you to do this for me." Yang growled. She activated her weapons. The Ember Celica. The pair of "shotgauntlets" Viridian would mention later.

...

Viridian didn't think that staying away from Ruby would be difficult. But that was before Eclipse targeted him for a second time. He needed to talk to someone he could trust. And that was a short list of people.  
"Wake up." Viridian said.

"Viridian? Why are you here?" Ruby recognized her friend's voice.  
"I need to talk to you." Viridian's eyes circled the room, inspecting each of her teammates. They were all sleeping.  
"Talk to me about what?" Ruby asked.  
"A lot." Viridian answered.

...

The Eclipse gunship landed outside of Vale. Sol Apollo was waiting for the team. "Where is Viridis?" Apollo asked.  
"We encountered Grimm. A Basilisk." Aquamarine explained.  
"How did you manage to awaken a Basilisk?" Luna Artemis was intrigued. The Basilisk's rarely appear during a small conflict.  
"Goferra was with him. I believe she's on his team now." Teal answered.

"Interesting that Goferra found her way onto a team with Viridis." Artemis said. She started rethinking their discovery. "I believe she stole the notes we were after."  
"Then why didn't Rocky Rhodes report it?" Apollo asked.

"There's no way Goferra could have killed Rhodes by herself." Indigo Goferra only knew what she needed to survive. She wasn't much of a fighter. Definitely not a killer.

"There are pieces in motion that we aren't seeing." Artemis muttered.  
"Care to explain that metaphor?" Aquamarine asked. He didn't understand the game.  
"Chess." Artemis replied. "We're dealing with an opponent who's taking extra turns while our back is turned."  
Apollo's cybernetic eye started glowing red. "Then we need to change the game." He growled.

...

Viridian infiltrated Beacon's library. He researched the name Rocky Rhodes. But no results came. "Who is Rocky Rhodes?" Viridian asked himself. Ozpin made him sound like an impressive fighter. Surely, some record of him should exist.  
He searched Teal Aquamarine, only finding reference to a masked mercenary from Vacuo. "It's like they don't exist." Viridian noted to himself. He remembered another name he'd heard. Limone Y'lo. The name had no results.

"They weren't Eclipse, they were sent by Eclipse." Viridian remembered Y'lo's words. He was looking for the wrong people. Viridian searched for the names of the two scientists in charge.

...

Indigo usually works alone. Having a team was something new to her. In the past, her "friends" have been little more than people to exploit. But now, she needs them to destroy Eclipse.

"Hey?" Rusty called to Indigo.  
"What's up?" Indigo replied.  
"Something doesn't add up." Rusty asked. "How could Eclipse know Viridian was going to Beacon."  
"Eclipse isn't huge. They mostly rely on manipulation of people." Indigo knew a lot about manipulation.

"Manipulation how?" Rusty asked.  
"You ever heard of Achroma?" Indigo asked.  
"No." Rusty answered.

"Achroma is a manipulative criminal that finds people's weaknesses and exposes them." Indigo explained.  
"Relevance?" Rusty asked. He didn't see a connection.  
"He uses their personalities against them. Eclipse does the same thing." Indigo knows a lot more about Eclipse's manipulative side than most.

"So they must have found someone in the school they could force to help them." Rusty deduced.  
"Yeah. That's what I was leading you towards." Indigo lied. She hadn't put any thought into what Eclipse was planning. The only thing she could think about was time. How much of it she'd need to execute her plan.

...

Viridian walked back to his dorm. He was followed by someone. The person following him watched him walk down a hall and disappear. Jaded Edge suddenly appeared in front of his throat.

"Why are you stalking me?" Viridian asked.  
"I know about your parents." He recognized the voice of his teammate, Grey.

"Former Huntsmen. Must have been easy for you to get into Beacon." Grey said with a hostile tone.  
"You don't know anything about me!" Viridian growled, pulling his sword closer to Grey's throat. While Grey's aura would protect him from being cut, it couldn't stop the force against his throat from choking him.

Viridian released Grey. "You're lucky to have Lagune as a father. At least he wouldn't watch his son die." Grey turned around to find Viridian had vanished.

...


	11. The hunt for answers

**Now that everyone is at Beacon, I can move to the second arc. Also, I gave away Grey's last name in the edit for last chapter, in case you decided not to read it. I'm also moving into manga territory. I had a lot of fun doing research to write this chapter.  
**

 **I feel like I inspired part of Episode 3 of volume 4. I'll talk about that more next chapter.**

 **...**

 ** _The hunt for answers_**

 _"Grimm log 6-1. Apparently, Dr. Merlot discovered a means of transforming the Grimm. He claims to have control over the transformed Grimm. It's like they say. "You can always trust a terrible liar. You'll know when he speaks the truth."."_

...

Viridian spoke with Cardin just before class. "Cardin Winchester. You're leading a team now." Viridian commented.  
"Yep. They aren't too bright, but they're loyal." Cardin answered. "I saw that explosion up in the mountains. I thought you were taking the danger free route." Cardin noted.  
"That's actually what I wanted to talk about." Viridian replied.

"Those guys tried to capture me before. But I don't know how they knew I was at Beacon." Viridian explained. "You think someone told them, and you want me to find out who." Cardin pieced together Viridian's plan.  
"You're smarter than I gave you credit for." Viridian noted.  
"I've caught more than a few snitches." Cardin proudly answered.

"I already checked all of the students." Grey interjected.  
"You were searching for the owner of a ship, and she wasn't with Eclipse." Viridian noted. "Eclipse rarely does anything for themselves."

"How do you know so much about how they operate?" Grey asked.  
"Research. Sol Apollo was able to gain power in Atlas by manipulating members of their council." Viridian replied. Viridian wasn't going to tell Grey about Limone Y'lo. Not until he knows what happened to him.

"So, you have a plan?" Cardin asked.  
"I need you to create some kind of a diversion." Viridian answered. "Something big enough to get the whole schools attention."  
"The Whole school? That might be tricky." Cardin noted.  
"I'd recommend fighting someone." Indigo interjected. "Not just any fight. There needs to be a setup to hype the fight so everyone will want to see it before it happens."

"I'll see what I can do." Cardin walked over to his team.  
"Do we even need him?" Grey asked.  
"No. But it's easier to get away with something by sending someone else." Viridian answered.  
"Just ask Eclipse." Indigo added.

...

Sol Apollo searched through his contacts for any sign of Rhodes. "You're still looking for Rhodes." Artemis observed. "He's neither our first enforcer to disappear." Artemis reminded. "This isn't like Black. Rocky didn't just stop reporting. His entire history had been erased." Apollo noted. Rhodes history isn't worth the cost of it's destruction.

"You think that the person responsible is a threat?" Artemis asked. "I think we shouldn't overlook one of our operatives disappearances." Apollo answered.

"You think it was him?" Apollo asked. "Ozpin wouldn't shift his focus towards us. Not while they know she's plotting against him." Artemis noted. "How did Limone know we were going after Viridiain?" Apollo asked. "If Ozpin was acting against us, Viridian would be dead." Artemis replied.

"I think we have a traitor." Apollo noted. "Limone Y'lo couldn't have acted without one." Artemis agreed.

...

Viridian snuck into the dorm of Team WYLD. White Wabbit, Yanky Sam, Eggham Lincoln and Daffodil Duck. All former Signal students. He looked around the room.

"Viridian. What's up." The team's leader, White Wabbit was lying in his bed with a carrot in his hands, that he was about to start eating. "I think one of your teammates is trying to kill me." Viridian answered.

"It's Sam." Wabbit replied, before loudly chomping on his carrot. His two front teeth resembled those of rabbit, because of his faunus heritage. "How do you know?" Viridian asked. "He owes Eclipse because of a bet against Rocky Rhodes that he lost." Wabbit explained.

"And you haven't told me why?" Viridian asked. "Yang told us to avoid you, so her sister doesn't know you're here." Wabbit replied, after swallowing. Viridian was annoyed that Yang's attempts to help Ruby makes new friends were putting his new friends in danger.

Daffodil Duck walked into the dorm. "What iz he doing here?" Duck asked. As a duck Faunus, he had a bill that he blamed for his lisp. "Sam tried to get Viridian assassinated." Wabbit answered. "You're acting like thatz normal!" Duck exclaimed. "I knew he was going to come sooner or later." Wabbit replied.

"Where is Sam know?" Viridian asked. "He'z watching the fight." Duck answered. "Oh yeah, Cardin is fighting Ruby. If Yang told you to avoid her, you might want to wait." Wabbit noted.

"How did Cardin end up fighting Ruby?" Viridian asked. "He was throwing around that Arc kid, and somehow Goodwitch turned it into an official match between Cardin and Ruby." Wabbit explained. "That complicates things." Viridian noted.

...

Grey recieved a message on his scroll. "Yankee Sam owes Eclipse." The message was sent by Viridian. Grey searched through the crowd for Yankee Sam. He spotted the red haired teen waiting for the match to start. "Sam. You and I should talk." Grey said.

Sam rushed through the crowd. Grey walked behind him. He was in no hurry. Just after Sam left the Ampitheatre, he was cut off By Indigo and Rusty, both having their weapons equiped. "The more trouble you cause, the more you'll be in when this is over." Rusty warned.


	12. Interrogations

**Remember the fight with the Grimm Sea dragon? Remember how the ship had cannons to fight back? I think the cannons were my idea.**

 **In Grey's trailer, he fought a Shark Grimm, and a Leviathan. The ship used Torpedos because it was a different kind of ship. It's a cargo ship created by Gunmetal Industries. It's weapons are designed to kill Grimm at a distance because the Cargo can be more frail than someone using Aura.**

 **It seems there's a shipping war going on. I'm not "scared of their little ships" as Twinodoom would say. I'm currently not working with any of the ships, and I don't plan on changing that any time soon.**

 **Also, I should warn you that this chapter is very dark compared with the previous chapters. If you aren't comfortable reading about torture, this might be the wrong chapter for you.**

 **...**

 ** _Interrogations_**

 _"Grimm log 6-4: I find it interesting that the Grimm choose to wander places like Mountain Glenn. Where there was once great Chaos. Even though there is nothing left for them, the Grimm choose to wander here. Seemingly pointless behavior."_

...

Beacon's rooftops are easily accessible. Ozpin's Initiation proved the students can handle falling a couple stories. Rusty used two of his mechanical arms to carry Sam to an isolated spot Viridian choose. Viridian was waiting for them.

Rusty dropped Yankee Sam at Viridian's feet. Sam recognized Viridian immediately.  
"I'm sorry! It wasn't personal, I just needed to get Eclipse off my back!" Sam begged.  
Viridian glared. "How did you know I was at Beacon." Viridian asked.  
"Yang. She wanted my team to try and find you before you find her sister." Yankee explained.

"Were you the one that told Eclipse I was at Signal?" Viridian asked.  
"Yes. I was just trying to pay off a debt." Sam answered.  
"You endangered my entire team!" Viridian grabbed Sam.  
"It was either that, or having Rocky Rhodes break my hands." Sam begged.

"What do you know about Rocky Rhodes?" Viridian asked. His information couldn't trace Rhodes, but he'd only searched online. Online information can be deleted. Memories aren't so easily erased.  
"He fights in an underground fight club, and does enforcing for Eclipse on the side." Yankee answered quickly.  
"Where's the fight club?" Viridian asked.  
"Acid Bog's Gym." Yankee answered.  
"Thanks." Viridian threw Sam off the roof.

"That was unnecessary." Indigo commented.  
"He endangered us to pay off a debt." Viridian replied. Viridian never understood why some people choose not to fight. Everyone is capable of defending themselves, yet there are those who are defenseless.  
"Not like he's dead." Rusty noted. Yankee only felt minor pain from the fall.

...

Limone Y'lo remained chained against a wall of a dungeon. A man fired arrows into Limone's body, while his aura was too depleted to protect him. There were arrows in his right ankle, and his left arm.  
"I can shoot you about eight more before I kill you." The archer warned.  
"Then I'm already dead." Limone retorted.  
Sol Apollo entered the dungeon. "Flint, that's enough." Apollo ordered. The archer exited the dungeon.

Apollo tapped on his cybernetic eye. "You see this eye?" Apollo asked. The cybernetic eye glowed red.  
"How'd you lose that? I don't see a scar." Limone observed.

The cybernetic eye fired a laser, burning Limone's right hand. "I named it Helios Glare." Apollo's cybernetic eye is also his weapon.  
"I DON'T KNOW ANYTHING!" Limone screamed.  
"Helios Glare sees the things that you don't." Apollo fired the laser on Limone's left hand. "It can see your heart. It knows when you lie." Apollo explained. "Your aura can recharge, and I will still be able to hurt you." Apollo noted.

"Who sent you to find us?" Apollo asked.  
"An old teammate." Limone answered.  
"WHO!" Limone yelled. He fired the beam at the center of Limone's chest continuously.  
"HE CHANGED HIS NAME!" Limone screamed. "I... I don't know what it is..." Limone panted. The injuries were killing him.

Teal Aquamarine ran into the dungeon. "Dr. Apollo, we need him alive!" Aquamarine reminded.  
"If you don't tell me something useful, I will watch as your heart stops." Apollo threatened.  
"They took Viridian...to Beacon." Limone answered.

"I already know that!" Apollo yelled.  
"My partner...is looking..." Limone's vision faded.  
"Looking for who?" Apollo growled.  
"Dr...Rifleman." Limone passed out after answering.

"Send him a medic." Apollo ordered. Aquamarine left to do so. "He's looking for the Doctor." Apollo said to himself.

...

The General noticed that Limone Y'lo disappeared. This means he's going to need to speed up his time tables.  
"Is the team ready?" The General asked.  
"These kids aren't perfect students, but they should do fine." An instructor replied.

"I don't know why your helping these kids." The instructor said.  
"I think they can do some good. That's all you need to know." The General replied.  
"You could have choosen some of Atlas's students." The instructor noted.  
"I have my reasons for picking them. You don't need to know what they are." The General snapped.

The team gathered in front of him as the instructor left.  
"Olivia Thorne." The leader wore a green jacket. Both of her hands had brown guantlets that were part of her weapons.  
"Sandy Storm." The second girl was wearing a tan cloak, hiding most of her appearance. Her eyes were covered by goggles.  
"Trolley Carr." The next member was a male. He wore a grey sleeveless shirt, black pants and helmet with black knee pads.  
"Rocky Rhodes." The missing Eclipse Enforcer was the final member of the the team. He looked no worse for wear.


	13. Acid Bog

**There's a reason why Glynda thinks Viridian is dangerous. I won't tell you just yet. That be like telling you what happened to Electricity, or why Rocky's working for Atlas** **. You'll find out when the story requires it.**

 **...**

 _ **Acid Bog**_

 _"Grimm Log 7-1: Umbra. They recreated the mythical Riders. Dr. Merlot. He advanced Remnants technology. Unfortunate that they have been forgotten by today's world. I intend to make sure my work is never forgotten."_

...

In the day, Acid Bog's Training Gym is filled with strong fighters training to improve themselves. At night, some of those fighters sneak into a hidden sub-basement to fight for the entertainment of others.

VIRG entered the gym late in the afternoon. There was still daylight, but only a few people were still inside of the gym.

Acid Bog was once a well known fighter. Some say he was the greatest of his time. He won a Vytal Tournament during his last year at Beacon Academy, which kicked off his reputation as a fighter. He never lost a single fight since.

Since retiring, he's grown somewhat out of shape. In addition to an older look on his face, he's gained weight. He's changed a buff figure to a rounded one. Many find it ironic that he could fall out of shape while running a gym.

While he's nowhere near his prime, Bog is still a powerhouse that no one wants to fight. When Bog entered his office, he found Rusty Steele sitting at Bog's desk, steepling his fingers.

"I like this chair. It's a really good chair." Rusty commented.

"Kid, you better have a good reason for sittin' in it." Bog warned. Bog has no intention of wasting much of his time on them.

"Rocky Rhodes. I want to know about him." Viridian said.

"Sorry, I don't know who that is." Bog lied.

"We know about your fight club." Viridian noted.

"Then you should know the first rule: Ya don't talk about the fight club." Bog warned.

"He never said we were there." Indigo reminded.

Bog wasn't sure what to make of the situation. While he was annoyed, he was also a little intrigued.

"Tell ya what. If you can beat the strongest guy that shows up in my club, myself excluded, I'll tell you what I know." He offered.

"Sounds like a fair deal." Grey noted.

Viridian had a counteroffer. Bog was forced against the wall by Viridian's sword. The weapon's blade was pressed against Acid's neck. "This can end two ways. Either you tell me about Rhodes, or I chop your head off." Viridian threatened. The two stared at each other for several seconds.

The room grew silent. No one knew how Bog would react. Not even Bog himself. He hasn't met anyone who would dare look at him the wrong way in years. Much less, threaten him.

Bog started laughing. "I respect your drive, kid. You want those answers, you got 'em." Bog said. Viridian moved the weapon away from Bog's neck, but gripped it tightly, incase this was a trick.

"I haven't seen from Rhodes in a while. Last I heard, he was helping Sol Apollo with somethin' outside the Kingdoms." Bog explained. "Forunately for you, I keep track of my investments." Bog pulled out his scroll.

...

The general watched his team train from a room behind a one-sided glass.

The instructor that gathered them entered the room."Sir, I've found a possible opening to send some of your team into Beacon early." The instructor informed the general.

"The entire team?" The general asked.

"No. An experimental while Atlas forces are in Vale." The instructor explained.

"What do you know of the weapon?" The general asked.

"It's not exactly a weapon. It's a robot with a human appearance and real aura." The instructor explained. The general paused.

"I have someone that can make certain no one learns about his secret." The general said.

An alert was sent to the general's scroll. Atlas security detected a homing beacon coming from Rocky Rhodes. The returm signal was blocked, but it's orginal target was traced to Vale. "I know where the rest of the team will be." The general said.

...


	14. Welcome to Vale

**It seems that the Atlasian military doesn't like Viridian. And Acid Bog is going to lead them Rocky. Bog is inspired by Mikey Goldmill from the Rocky movies. He's also inspired by God of Destruction Beerus, who is voiced by Jason Douglas, Jacque Schnee's VA.**

 **...**

 ** _Welcome to Vale_**

 _"Grimm Log 7-4: It seems someone is searching for me. They triggered a security system I placed in one of my previous locations. I'm close to finding exactly what I need to change Remnant forever."_

 _..._

The kingdom of Vale recently started making preparation the 40th Vytal Festival, to make Vale prepared for when they arrive. Despite this, there would still be students from across Remnant would be arriving months in advance.

While most would travel with their schools, some would find ways to get into Vale early. Their motives varied from observing the preparation of the Festival, to spying on Beacon's students to get the upper hand in the tournament.

As a sailor, Grey encountered many such students during his travels. His encounters with them, and a few huntsmen lead him to join their path.

"Anyone got eyes on Rhodes?" Grey asked. Rocky's tracker was detected aboard a ship headed to Vale. VIRG arrived at the docks before the ship could dock.

"No, but I think we should try not to make to much of a scene." Viridian replied from on top of a rooftop. "There's some cops investigating a Dust store robbery." Viridian explained. He watched Team RWBY converse with the officers.

"I'll see if I can distract them." Indigo added, as she spotted the officers.

"Rusty, go with her. We can handle Rhodes." Viridian ordered. Rusty jumped across rooftops to locate his partner.

Grey used Hydrospear to pole vault towards Viridian. "We need to talk." Grey said.

"About what?" Viridian asked.

"You know why Eclipse wants you. We don't." Grey stated.

"A lot of people want me for different reasons." Viridian answered blankly. "My own father tried to kill me, remember." Viridian reminded

"And mine just gave me a name with a lot of debts linked to it." Grey replied. "But each debt came from someone with their own motive." Grey explained.

"Eclipse is a group of scientists gathering fighters. What do you think they want with me?" Viridian said.

"You really think it's just that simple?" Grey asked.

"Plans are complex. Goals are simple." Viridian answered.

...

Indigo walked over to the crime scene, where two detectives investigating with very little motivation. "Looks like the glass was broken from the inside the store." Indigo observed.

"Last time I checked, we're the ones getting payed to do the investigating." One of the detectives noted.

"I'm sure you wouldn't mind deputizing two Beacon Students to do your jobs for you." Rusty replied.

"Well, your not wrong." The other detective answered. "I, Detective Burny of the the Vale police force, hereby deputize you to help us investigate this robbery."

"If they broke through the glass, they must have been in a hurry to get out." Rusty noted.

"Either someone spotted them, or they needed to get to another location fast." Indigo explained. She found it strange to be helping someone find a thief. Ordinarily, she was the thief. Of course, this wasn't going to stop her.

"There aren't any witnesses we know of." Detective Haymen, the other detective noted.

"Which means they're either dead or they never existed in the first place." Detective Burny deduced.

"Or they're afraid to something." Indigo added. Her experience shows that fear is a powerful demotivator.

"If we can't find a witness, we'll have to assume it doesn't exist." Detective Haymen concluded.

"The thieves must have a schedule and somewhere to hide the dust if they needed to get around as quickly as they did." Rusty theorized.

"To track where, we'll need to observe another one of their heists and use it to triangulate where they might be storing the dust." Detective Haymen noted.

"You no good stowaway!" A sailor yelled from the docks.

"What now?" Detective Burny left to investigate the conflict.

"You two should investigate further without us." Detective Haymen instructed.

...

"Hey! A no-good stowaway would've been caught! I'm a great stowaway!" The stowaway retorted. Viridian and Rusty watched as Team RWBY and the detectives chased after him.

"Who was that?" Grey asked.

"No one important to us." Viridian replied. He watched as the ship's passengers walked off. A tan cloaked passenger looked at him. "That's not good." Viridian noted.

Grey looked at the cloaked figure. Sandy Storm. "What do we do?" Grey asked. He turned to see that Viridian had vanished. He looked back and saw that Storm had made it onto the rooftop.

Storm stared at Grey. "Stay out of my way." She warned. A cloud of Dust formed around her, and carried her away.


	15. The Truth always comes out

**Steelemarch is inspired by Dr. Octopus's arms. Rusty is inspired by Rumpelstiltskin, the short weaver of gold with a weird name that nobody knows. Rusty's aspiration is to be enternally remembered for doing something great.**

 **...**

 _ **The Truth always comes out**_

 _"Grimm log 7-9: Atlas wastes their time hiding information from the public. The truth, unlike lies, are proven by fact. Lies are inconsistant with reality. Secrets don't stay hidden forever."_

...

"Someone is chasing Viridian." Grey reported through his scroll.

"Not now, we're investigating." Indigo explained.

Grey fired his grapple hook into the dust cloud. Storm was pulled towards Grey. "I can't let you hurt him. He's my partner." Grey explained.

Four arrows pinned Storm's cloak to the ground. Viridian landed on the roof. "Thanks." Viridian said.

"Who are you?" Grey asked. Sandy remained silent.

"This is why I don't trust anyone, Grey." Viridian explained. Viridian searched Storm for any personal belongings. Storm made no attempt to resist, despite her arms and legs not being restrained.

"What are you looking for?" Grey asked.

"Her scroll." Viridian answered. He removed it from a pocket inside the cloak, and moved it to one of his own pockets.

...

Indigo and Rusty continued their investigation. "The only way they could have left without leaving a trace is by airship." Rusty noted.

"Where could someone hide the stolen Dust, and an airship?" Indigo asked. In Vacuo, a thief hides what they steal. Otherwise, it will be stolen back.

"Probably an abandoned warehouse." Rusty answered. Damascus Steele gave away abandoned factories and warehouses to criminals, in exchange for favors he calls in at random. This resulted in a number of criminals with staging grounds for operations, and debts to Gunmetal Industries.

"If they're trying to be descreet, they'll want to pick targets near the ocean." Indigo concluded.

"The next Schnee Dust shipment is arriving in a few days." Grey added, as he and Viridian rejoined the group.

"Anything exciting happened?" Rusty asked.

"There's a cloaked girl tied up on a roof." Viridian answered. "Do you have a spare warehouse nearby?"

...

Sandy was tied to a large pipe in a Gunmetal Industries factory. The factory used machines rather than manual labor. The easiest way to avoid complaints about Faunus labor is to replace their workers with machines. Storm continued to offer no resistance. It was as if she didn't care that she was a captive.

"Rusty, see what you can find on this scroll." Viridian tossed Storm's scroll to his teammate. Rusty's eyes glowed blue, and the scroll's screen displayed numbers.

Rusty looked at the scroll. "The scroll has special access to Atlas security." Rusty stated.

"She's Atlas?" Indigo asked.

"An Atlesian student. I can see her schedule, contacts list, browsing history..." Rusty explained.

"What?" Grey asked.

"My semblance. I control technology." Rusty explained his abilities.

"No, why would you look at her browsing history." Grey restated.

"It's data saved on this device. My mind links to technology, and sees the data." Rusty replied.

"I'm never letting you near my scroll." Indigo noted.

...

The Schnee Dust Shipment arrived. Shortly after, dropships landed. The White Fang arrived to load the dust onto the airships. Watching from crates were a number of hunters in training. "Looks like detetective Burny was right." Indigo noted. Team VRGO were among those hunters.

"Not surprising. The White Fang and Schnee Dust Company are enemies." Rusty explained. "But The White Fang is usually more direct than this." He noted. His own experience shows that his father only had issues with the White Fang while working with the Schnee Dust Company.

"They're criminals. What do you expect from them?" Grey asked. Grey has low expectations for the White Fang.

"They're not criminals. Not in the traditional sense." Indigo replied. Living in Vacuo blurrs the lines of morality. It is a place where few are considered evil.

Roman Torchwick exited an airship. A known Dust thief, who escaped after robbing a Dust Shop the same day Viridian was attacked by Rhodes. "Hey! What's the holdup!? We're not exactly the most inconspicuous bunch of thieves at the moment, so why don't you animals try to pick up the pace?" Torchwick rushed the White Fang soldiers that he clearly was commanding.

"Is that Roman Torchwick? How'd did he get the White Fang to work with him." Indigo asked. Indigo makes a note of high profile criminals. Torchwick is the only considerable threat to Vale's police. The only known threat. However, he seems to have issues maintaining the right amount of men to pull his heists, often turning to others for help.

"My uncle "loaned" him a warehouse." Rusty explained.

"Which one?" Viridian asked.

"Dunno. My uncle loaned a lot of warehouses. I just know Torchwick owes my family." Rusty replied.

Someone snuckup behind Torchwick. "Is that Blake?" Grey asked. He was correct. Several of the White Fangs soldiers surrounded her. Blake removed her ribbon, revealing two cat ears. "She's a faunus?" Grey asked.

"You didn't know?" Viridian asked.

"It's not a very clever disguise. Her ears motions move the bow give it away. She'd have to have perfect control over her emotions to stop that." Rusty explained. However, Blake was successful in avoiding people, reducing the chances of being noticed.

"Brothers of the White Fang! Why are you aiding this scum?" Blake asked. The remaineder of the conversation could not be heard by team VRGO.

"White Fang. Of course." Grey muttered.

"We should call the detectives and leave." Viridian said.

"Why? We could do something right now." Rusty countered.

"I don't want to end up in a police report. That usually gets followed by an assassin getting himself arrested so he can kill me." Viridian explained.

"Yeah, Eclipse has a guy who would literally do what you just discribed." Indigo noted. The Team vanished into the night.


	16. Friend or Foe

**I have some plans involving my brothers works. Specifically, the Age of Chaos. Very devious plans.**

* * *

 **...**

 _ **Friend or foe**_

 _"Grimm log 8: I now understand. There are secrets on Remnant that the kingdom's leaders are preserving. A war being fought that no one knows about. Secercy will be their undoing. They can't keep the truth hidden forever. That's why I'll succeed."_

How long Storm's dissapearance would go unnoticed is unclear. The Atlas students haven't offically entered, due to most of them waiting to travel with General Ironwood. However, it is likely Storm had teammates who would be looking for her. Viridian visited her before the night was over to find answers.

"I just figured out where Rhodes is?" Rusty exclaimed.

"Where?" Grey asked.

"He's hiding with the students." Rusty answered. "He must have gotten a fake identity and joined some school."

"Isn't the school going to notice that it has some new students?" Grey asked.

"The instructors are a bit lazy when it comes to keeping track of their roster." Indigo noted from experience. The teachers don't care much about the screening process. Cheaters usually get killed at some point. As do many of students who arrive normally. It is simply the way the Huntsmen academies work.

"So one of the teams on that ship should recognize him." Grey concluded.

"Unless he was just another stowaway." Rusty reminded.

"The monkey king of thieves might have seen Rhodes." Indigo noted, referring to Sun Wukong. "Didn't Ruby Rose's faunus teammate know the guy?"

"They were both at the docks." Grey added.

"Viridian knows Rose. He should be the one to talk to her." Indigo concluded.

"I think we're forgetting the shotgun threat that her sister made." Rusty noted.

"She can't be serious." Grey said.

"Siblings are crazy. I would know." Rusty explained. His family takes sibling rivalry to three different levels.

"Well, it's a two to one vote." Indigo replied.

"I think I'd rather go around asking random students than try my luck with the faunus." Grey noted, changing his vote.

"Between the former White Fang member, and the thief, those two aren't exactly trustworthy." Rusty added.

"Criminals only lie when they have something to lose." Indigo noted, semi-poetically.

"You can always trust a terrible liar. You'll know when he's speaks the truth." Viridian said. The others were surprised to see him, unaware that he had entered the dorm.

"How long were you listening?" Grey asked.

"Long enough to make a plan:" Viridian answered. "You're going to find out what you can from the other students. I'm going to have a chat with my friend."

...

"So you think Sun might know how to find Rocky Rhodes?" Ruby asked.

"He led you to Roman Torchwick." Viridian replied.

"Accidentally." Ruby noted.

"He was also a stowaway on the same ship Rhodes was on. He might know things." Viridian added.

"Even if he does, I don't know how to find him." Ruby explained.

"Just let him know I could use his help next time you see him." Viridian concluded.

"What are you doing here?" Yang asked, waking up from her sleep.

"Trying to deal with the mercenaries that came after me after you told your friends to make sure I stay away from Ruby." Viridian answered.

"What?" Ruby asked, confused.

"Who sent mercenaries after you?" Yang asked, changing the subject.

"Yeah. Yankee Sam told some guys I was here, and they came sent four guys during the entrance exam." Viridian explained.

"Why haven't I heard anything about this?!" Yang yelled.

"Because people are afraid to say my name in your sisters presence." Viridian answered.

"They're still on that? I forgot about that before the launch." Yang responded.

"Would have been nice to know that before I dragged three complete strangers into my problems." Viridian noted.

"Doesn't that come with being on a team anyway?" Yang asked.

"I could have dragged you into it, without any guilt on my conscience." Viridian replied.

"But then you'd also have Ruby, so your guilt would probably balance out." Yang retorted.

"You underestimate my apathy for your wellbeing." Viridan noted.

"What's going on?" The conversation woke Weiss. "Who is that?"

"I should go." Viridian jumped out of a window and vanished.

"He could have just used the door." Yang noted.

...

Teal Aquamarine and Ash prepared to spar. Ash launched two kicks in Aquamarine, both of which were blocked. During a third kick, Aquamarine caught Ash's leg. Ash used his dust projectors wind element to push himself free. Aquamarine pointed his gun, noticing a sticky grenade attached to his gun. It exploded, trapping his arm in ice. Teal swung his frozen arm at Ash, knocking him down and shattering the ice. Ash used his dust projectors to blast Aquamarine with fire. Aquamarine responded by jumping through the flames and trapping Ash's neck in the space between his blades.

"Better luck next time." Aquamarine helped Ash off the ground.

"You ever miss when this was just captuing Grimm?" Ash asked.

"I don't really care." Aquamarine replied.

"Next thing we know, we're taking people off the streets." Ash continued. "You're not a little bit curious what the doctors are doing with them?" Ash asked.

"I know that Remnant will be a lot safer when this is over." Aquamarine answered.

"Aquamarine. Ash." Cyclone returned. "We found something."

The three entered a room with access to security cameras set up in Vale. One of them identified a civilian walking of the ship Viridian investigated. "Is that Rhodes?" Ash asked.

"Where has he been?" Flint asked.

"He's the one that's been feeding Limone intel." Aquamarine concluded. "He was the only one with me when we went after Viridis, making him the only one that could warn Limone in time. He lost to Viridis to get him to Ozpin, so he'd be out of our reach. He disappeared because he knew we'd investigate Limone." Aquamarine explained.

"Limone didn't know it was him." Flint noted.

"Limone was a tool. There's someone plotting against us." Aquamarine answered.

"I don't believe we've done anything to make enemies." Cyclone said.

"It's about Viridian. Someone else wants him. We need to know why." Aquamarine said.

...

Cardin found Viridian walking through the halls. "Hey, you found out anything about the guy that ratted you out?" Cardin asked. "Yeah, I had a talk with the guy while you were busy getting beat up by a little girl." Viridian replied, referring to Cardin's match with Ruby. "She faster than—Wait, you already found him?" Cardin asked. "Yes." Viridian answered.

"Weird. Grey told me you didn't." Cardin noted.

"He probably doesn't trust you to leave him alone." Viridian replied. Viridian assumed Grey choose to keep their problems secret because of Viridian's distrustful nature. No one need to know Grey Lakewater was really Grey Lagune. Viridian only knew this because he investigated his teammates while researching Eclipse. He only planned to tell anyone if Grey meantioned his parents.

"I guess not everything's like it seems." Cardin said. "I got saved from a Ursa by Jaune Ark of all people." Cardin's perspective of the world was changed by this. "My team abandoned me, but he stayed."

"He's not like a lot of other people I've seen." Viridian explained. "He came here for the same reason we did: To fight."

"But he's pretty bad at it." Cardin finished.

"Exactly. I've seen some people like him give up. The fact that he's still trying shows that he at least has determination." Viridian said. "Strength comes in a lot of forms. But if you can't control any of them, you only have potential."

"I'm not sure if I regret pushing him around or feel proud of helping him realize some of that potential." Cardin explained.

"I think you're dissapointed you didn't see that potential until he showed it." Viridian answered. Cardin was satified with this conclusion. It also made Viridian question something. How can he know that his team can be trusted if they haven't betrayed him yet?


	17. What the tourists see

**I'm going to try to speed up my time tables because of AOC. A few of my characters will be showing up, and I want to make sure I get to the point where there presence doesn't confuse anyone.**

 **...**

* * *

 _ **What the Tourists see**_

 _"Personal journal of Limone Y'lo: I want to say it was a dark stormy night to create suspense. But the truth is it was just a boring sunny day when I accepted the mission to investigate some unexplained disappearances. I wish my story at least sounded cool."_

Beacon filled up with students from the other schools. Many of the classes were focused on preparing for the Vytal Tournament, including regular sparring matches. The students also took the chance to make friends with other schools students, whom they expected to meet again in the next Vytal festival two years later.

Were noone not targeting him, Viridian might have taken the chance to socialize with the other classes. Instead, he chooses to be careful, trusting only those with simple goals that do not involve him. And those that he has no choice but to trust. Finding out which Sun Wukong was became Viridian's main concern.

"You're Sun Goku, right?" _Dammit!_ Viridian immediately realized that he said the wrong name.

"I'm Son Wukong, yes." Sun answered, apparently not noticing the mistake.

 _Just roll with it._ "You were on the ship that came into Vale a few days before the docks got hit." Viridian said.

"Yeah. I was at the docks when they were attacked too." Wukong added. Viridian already knew this. He saw Wukong helping Blake.

"I'm trying to find someone that was on the ship you came in with. Rocky Rhodes." Viridian explained.

"Never heard of him." Sun replied.

"I saw you leaving the ship. They called you a "No-good stowaway"." Viridian noted.

"Well, they're wrong!" Sun said defensively.

"If you stowed away, you probably noticed other stowaways." Viridian concluded.

"Unless there were no other stowaways, and he was a normal passenger." Sun noted.

"Have you seen this guy?" Viridian showed Sun a picture of Rocky on his scroll.

Sun studied the picture. "Wait a minute, I saw him before. He was on one of the student teams." Sun explained.

"Which team?" Viridian asked.

"I don't know. But I know who their leader is." Sun responded.

...

Rusty took the opportunity to get acquainted with the other teams. He wants the other students to recognize him, and meeting the visiting teams is the best time to start.

He stopped when he saw a familar face. "What are you doing here?" Rusty walked over to Olivia Thorne.

"Rusty, can we talk about this somewhere else." Thorne asked.

"I want to know why my sister in here after getting rejected by the Academy." Rusty explained.

"No one knows it's me." Electricity Steele explained.

"That's not an answer." Rusty noted.

"Someone may have gotten me into the school if I agreed to watch her." Electricity pointed to Penny.

"What's so special about her?" Rusty asked.

"Go talk to her. You'll figure it out." Electricity replied.

Rusty walked over to Penny. Before he could say a word, Electricity pushed her younger brother onto the girl.

Penny didn't seem to care that she was being run into for the second time since arriving in Vale. However, she was instucted to avoid interacting with others too much, and hastily retreated.

Rusty remained on the ground. "What was that." Rusty asked. He was mostly confused.

"Penny may look like an ordinary girl, but in reality, she is an android with a soul." Electricity explained.

Rusty's semblance allowed him to see Penny in a way few others can. "It was different from anything I've seen in before." Rusty explained. "It wasn't just artificial intelligence: It was an actual mind. Capable of complex thoughts and emotions."

"Yeah, the first time is pretty amazing." Electricity replied. "She's not supposed to know that I know, so pretend we can't actually see anything."

"How am I supposed to pretend I can't see the greatest machine Remnant has created." Rusty asked.

"You could play it off as attraction." Electricity replied. Rusty glared back at his undercover sister.

...

Grey visited Sandy Storm at the factory. Until the next monthly inspection, no one would be finding Storm. "Why are you here?" Grey asked.

"You were looking for Rocky Rhodes." Sandy Storm answered.

"How did you know?" Grey asked.

"Rocky Rhodes is not our enemy." Sandy Storm responded.

"What are you talking about?" Grey asked.

...

Indigo wandered Beacons grounds, avoiding attention. The presence of Vacuo's students brought a chance of one of them recognizing her. If any of them knew too much, she might be in trouble.

"Hey, have we met before." Indigo turned to see Rocky Rhodes. He seemed slightly confused. As if he's trying to remember something he forgot.

"I don't think so." Indigo replied, hoping Rhodes didn't recognize her. She made no attempt to change her appearance, which she regrets.

"No, I met you before." Rhodes appeared to remember something.

Indigo reached for Desperado Roulette. "Are you sure?" Indigo asked.

"Yeah, you called me "buddy"." Rhodes answered. Indigo realized Rhodes memory must have been lost. He can't remember who she was.

"Uh, yeah. We were friends. I can't believe I forgot you." Indigo said, relieved.

"I can't remember me either. I lost my memories." Rhodes explained. "I'll see you later." Rhodes left.

Indigo sighed. _At least he's not a threat._

...


	18. Everything is connected

**I'm going to be jumping a bit through Volume 2. Mostly because I don't have a lot of filler to shove in between. Which is good. I was going to update monthly, but that's mostly because I want to finish watching Volume 4 before going into Vytal. But I can do both.**

* * *

 **...**

 _ **Everything is connected**_

 _Whoever is behind these kidnappings is good. They left no trace. No sign of a struggle. No reason for their disappearances. I know there's a connection beyind the identical circumstances. I just haven't seen it yet._

...

Beacon scheduled the Beacon Dance before the Vytal Festival. Team RWBY's Weiss amd Yang Xaio Long were asked to resume planning that was originally started by team CFVY.

"Rhodes doesn't remember anything?" Grey asked.

"Apparently. He thinks I'm his friend." Indigo replied.

"Another dead end." Viridian said.

"Storm said Rhodes wasn't our enemy." Grey noted. "I think she knows more."

"Who said you could keep asking her questions?" Viridian asked.

"Now that Atlas's students are here, it's only a matter before Storm's team comes looking for her." Grey said.

"Who knows. Maybe we got lucky, and her team is dead." Indigo suggested.

"Knowing my luck, probably not." Viridian responded. "The whole team is probably looking for me." Viridian said.

"I know who the Atlas Team is!" Rusty shouted, as he rushed into the dorm.

"What?" Grey asked, confused.

"I know the Team Storm was with." Rusty repeated.

"How?" Indigo asked.

"My sister is one of the members. She's using an alias, Olivia Thorne." Rusty explained. "She introduced me to the team."

"Entire team?" Indigo asked.

"Not all of them. Half of them are on an official team, Team COPR. I met that half." Rusty noted. "Storm and someone else were the other half, who went looking for Viridian."

"I found out Rhodes has amnesia." Indigo added.

"I know. He's my sister's partner." Rusty replied. "He's on the Atlas team because he thinks that finding Eclipse will lead him to his past."

"Wait, who's the other one." Grey asked.

"On which team?" Rusty asked.

"The other one on Storm's half of the team." Grey restated.

"Trolley Carr. Some delinquent." Rusty answered.

"Carr is going to tell Atlas where I am." Viridian said.

"They don't exactly work for Atlas." Rusty noted.

"What do you mean?" Grey asked.

"They work some Atlas Specialist. Really secretive guy." Rusty explained.

"Apparently your sister was a terrible choice for his team." Grey noted.

"She's mostly concerned with figuring out what Atlas is hiding from the guy. She doesn't know I'm with Viridian." Rusty responded.

Viridian wondered if Rusty told her anything. How close are the Steele's? "Carr's probably going to message him in person." Viridian noted. "Probably find a way to get himself into trouble with Atlas, and they'll take him somewhere quiet."

"He might try to break into an airship." Indigo suggested. Her own experience suggests that it lead to Electricity's recruitment.

"Then we stop him." Grey replied.

...

The general waited on one of Atlas's airships. He recieved a call from his scroll. "Suspicion has been shifted towards Rocky Rhodes." A distorted voice reported.

"How is Eclipse responding." The general asked.

"They can't do anything yet. But they have a plan to recover Viridis." The voice answered.

"Maybe we can kill both heads of this King Taijitu." The general said. He started thinkig of a plan.

"I don't understand." The distorted voice said over the scroll.

"We can destroy Eclipse, and Viridian Viridis." The general answered.

...

Teal Aquamarine closed his scroll. "It would never be that easy." He muttered, as he placed the scroll in his pocket.

Aquamarine walked past the orange robed monk. "Cyclone. I need Limone's scroll." Teal instructed. Cyclone left to aquire it.

...

Trolley Carr walk to the edge of Beacon Tower. He opened a collapsible staff, and pole vaulted off the tower. He would have landed on one of Atlas' Airships, had he not been intercepted by a grappling arrow. He was pulled to the same roof Viridian confronted Yankee Sam.

VIRG was waiting for him. Viridian place his sword in front of Trolley's face, between his eyes. "Whoa! Take it easy, dude. I was just trying to make one awesome jump." Trolley explained.

"I know what you were doing. Helping someone find me." Viridian responded. He activated Jaded Edge's crossbow mode. It now has a Dust cylinder for changing it's elements.

"It's nothing personal, dude. I'm just trying to stay out of trouble." Carr replied.

Indigo heanded Carr's scroll to Rusty. "You have a weird definition of trouble." Rusty commented. "Tresspassing, vandalism, illegal racing, use of illegal vehicle mods, cheating, unsportsmanlike conduct, and you apparently broke someone's leg." Rusty listed Carr's crimes.

"Woah! You can't just look into someone else's scroll like that, man! That's, like, an invasion of privacy!" Carr shouted.

"You've done worse." Grey replied.

A cloud of dust flew onto the roof. Sandy Storm emerged from the cloud. "You do not want to make us your enemy." Storm warned.

"You don't want to find out what happens when I get angry." Viridian replied. He fired a dust enhanced arrow at Carr's face, electrocuting him, and knocking him out without physical pain.

Storm formed a red dust cloud. She sent the cloud towards Viridian, where it exploded. Viridian jumped and fired another ice electric at Storm. She focused the dust from the arrow into another cloud. "She can control the dust?" Indigo asked.

Storm sent the cloud towards Grey, who rolled out of the way and fired his rifle back. His shots collected into a cloud. "She's using the wind!" Rusty exclaimed. Storm sent the cloud to Rusty, who used his mechanical limbs to jump out of the way.

Storm's semblance allows her to control wind currents. She uses it to direct pure dust and gather it into clouds, a direct them to her enemy. Rusty jumped off a wall, and used his right hand to punch Storm. Storm used the wind to fly into the air.

"I have a plan." Viridian announced. "If we all use several different types of dust, they might mix and become too unstable for her to control."

"That sound dangeroues, but I like it." Rusty said.

The team fired their weapons ranged weapons. Viridian and Indigo changed their Dust ammunition type with each shot, while Rusty and Grey fired as much as possible. The cloud become a raw mix of dust.

"Grey, use your hook!" Viridian ordered. Grey fired his bayonet, which got caught on Sandy's cloak. Grey retracted it, pulling Storm into the Dust cloud, which exploded. Storm was literally blown away, flying towards the forrest, where she crashed.

"So. How are we going to explain this?" Indigo asked.


	19. Some explaining to do

**So, when we last left off, Viridian desided to one up Ruby and create a massive Dust explosion above Beacon's courtyard. Good luck explaining that to Glynda.**

 **...**

* * *

 _ **Some explaining to do**_

 _I investigated Acid Bog's gym. Apparently, people are scared of one of his fighters, Rocky Rhodes. Apparently, the kid's got some really power semblance. He also works with a group called Eclipse. No records on those guys. Strange._

...

"You better have a good explanation for this." Glynda warned. She brought all of Team VIRG to Ozpin's office.

"It was training." Indigo quickly lied.

"We were preparing for the Tournament." Rusty added. "Without the other classes seeing what we can do." A number of teams trained outside of class from time to time. A training accident wasn't as conspicuous as a fight with two attackers that dissapeared.

"You blew a hole into the school while practicing?" Ozpin asked. The explosion caused minor damage to the school. A number students believed the school was under attack.

"I watched her fix it by waving around a riding crop. It's not the weirdest thing that's happened at this school." Viridian replied.

"You have no idea how right you are." Ozpin said, well aware of the many strange occurances at his school. "We'll leave you with a warning: Don't let something like this happen again." Ozpin warned.

Team VIRG left. "Someone's looking for him." Glynda concluded. "You knew this would happen."

"And I trust that he will take care of it himself." Ozpin explained. "He doesn't trust anyone because he doesn't know who he can trust. Had I not assigned him as team leader, he likely would have left after the first day."

"The other students would be safer if he had."

"He doesn't know who he can trust. There's very little we can do to make him trust us." Ozpin explained.

...

"You think they're on to us?" Indigo asked.

"They haven't done anything about it." Rusty replied, without an answer.

"They never do anything about anything." Grey noted. "They expect us to handle these things ourselves."

Viridian looked to the forrest. "How would those two contact their leader if we have their scrolls?" Viridian asked.

"Even if they did, what would Atlas do to you?" Indigo asked. "As long as your in Beacon, they can't make you do anything you don't want."

"But if we get transferred to Atlas Academy, there's no safety." Viridian replied.

"What would Atlas want from you?" Rusty asked.

"I don't know." Viridian answered. "But your sister might."

"She's mostly focused on figuring out somethings that Atlas is hiding. I don't think she knows anything you." Rusty replied.

"Maybe, but unless we can get Rhodes his memory back, she's our only lead." Viridian responded.

"How am I going to get answers from her without tipping her off?" Rusty asked.

"No one said you had to get the answers." Viridian noted.

...

Indigo walked over to "Olivia Thorne", who was secretly observing her robotic teammate outside of the school. "Ellie? You look a little different." Indigo observed. Besides Storm's outfit, her hair and eye color both changed to a brown color, instead of her original black hair.

"If I had my weapon right now, you would be dead." Electricity responded.

"Why are you so angry?" Indigo asked.

"Because thanks to you, I'm stucking helping the guys you stole the info from." Electricity answered.

"It's not like that's the worst thing ai've done to you." Indigo replied.

"Everytime I help you, I end up suffering while you move on with your life." Electricity explained. "I'm tired of it."

"If you tell me what they want, I might be able to help you." Indigo said.

Elctricity shook her head. "No. I'm not helping you anymore." Electricity refused to.

"I'm trying to help Viridis. He's on my team." Indigo said.

"You think I care about your team?" Electricity asked.

"Rusty's on my team too. He's my partner." Indigo explained. "If something happens to one of us, we're all in trouble."

Electricity doesn't like Indigo, but Rusty was never her enemy. "I don't know what he wants, but I know how you can find Eclipse." She said. "There's a Huntsman they captured, Limone Y'lo. He escaped. When they start assigning missions, we're supposed to shadow him." Electricity explained.

"I might try to thank you one day." Indigo noted. This was supposed to be an attempt.

...


	20. The die isn't cast yet

**I'm bringing in some merceneries from my brothers stories.** **Speaking of killing off people left and right, why has no one has been blatantly killed, like they did with Pyrrha, in the newest RWBY episodes? That is why I suspect that some of them are alive, and/or aren't going to die yet; If they wanted them dead, where are the corpses?**

 **Meanwhile, I'm more worried about why the headmaster of Haven academy never knew Cinder, Emerald, Mercury, and Neo where evil. Unless Neo was already working for Cinder, which based on her absence is unlikely, she was thrown in there last second.**

 **Also, how did Cinder get that virus that compromised the CCT? To do that, one would need an understanding of how it works, which means they've studied the systems that operate it. As we've seen, those have security, so how did they get a peak at it's coding, without anyone asking questions? That takes an inside man in the CCT. Like a headmaster in the built in office.**

 **I'm wondering if Haven Academy was secretly destroyed during the battle of Beacon, and Salem's castle is what's left of Mistral's capital. That would suck, because that would mean Qrow got poisoned and Tyrian lost a tail in a fight that would end in Ruby reaching her destination, regardless of the outcome. It would also be hilariously ironic.**

 **If we find out Dr. Watts is also Haven's headmaster, remember you heard it here first.**

 **...**

 _ **The die isn't cast yet**_

 _One of my contacts, gave me some intel on Eclipse. Apparently, my old friend, Teal Aquamarine works for them. I'm going to see if he wants to talk about it._

...

"She just told you this willingly?" Grey asked. Indigo's story seemed suspicious.

"No, she didn't trust me." Indigo answered. "She only told me after I told her that Viridian and Rusty were both on my team."

"Why would you tell her that?!" Viridian shouted.

"I assumed she doesn't want her brother in the crossfire." Indigo replied.

"You don't know my family." Rusty said. "It's every man for himself."

"She trusted you enough to tell you what she was doing." Grey noted.

"I don't think she cares much for any of it." Rusty replied. "She's probably trying to take advantage of the clean slate her new identity has."

"Why?" Grey asked.

"There's a saying: You don't get rich without the Steele's support." Rusty explained.

"We're the ones that keep your guardians fighting." Viridian quoted the "Who arms the guardians?" advertisement from Weapons magazine.

"When the White Fang started robbing Dust Trains, we protected their trains." Rusty said. "But somehow, the Schnee's get all the glory. But everyone forgets who carried them to the top, when they call in favors." Rusty trailed off.

"It's a thankless job, helping people." Grey replied.

"Well, all we can do is go after Eclipse the first chance we get." Indigo concluded.

"In the meanwhile, there's the Beacon Dance. Might as well celebrate there." Rusty suggested.

"Celebrate what?" Viridian asked.

"We're going to end Eclipse." Indigo answered.

"I'm not going to a party where Atlas security will be redirecting security guards." Viridian said. He remained wary of his enemies in Atlas because he did not know them.

"Why?" Indigo asked. "There's only one guy looking for you."

"He won't do anything in front of all four schools." Grey noted.

"I'm only staying here until we're done with Eclipse." Viridian declared. "Once they're gone, I'm leaving so you won't have to deal with any more of my problems."

"What about our missing team leader?" Rusty asked.

"Ozpin will figure something out. But if I stay, I'll only keep bringing trouble." Viridian answered.

...

"What exactly is it that we're being called here for, Aquamarine?" Rosewood asked. Eclipse summoned all of their mercenaries that weren't preoccupied with other matters. Rosewood is a grey cloaked mercenary serving Eclipse.

"Eclipse wants me to use a Huntsman's ID to find some Atlas students sent to find us." Aquamarine explained.

"There's also chance they'll also be targeting Viridis, so we might get a chance at two shots at our enemies." Ash noted.

"If we're lucky." Aquamarine replied. He had doubts that the plan would work, but he was still going to try.

"It's only a matter of time before out success." Rosewood said.

"Unless something goes wrong. And it usually does." Aquamarine responded.

...

Rusty spotted Electricity at the party. "Why didn't you tell me Viridian was on your team?" She asked.

"Because we weren't talking about my team." Rusty answered.

"Do you know what he is?" Electricity asked. "Atlas thinks he's a threat to all four kingdoms."

"He doesn't want to hurt anyone." Rusty noted.

"He killed an entire team of specialists in Mantle." Electricity countered. "Entire team, Rusty. Entire. Team." She repeated for emphasis.

"Why?" Rusty asked.

"I don't know. What I do know is that it's where he got his sword from." Electricity answered. Viridian made little meantion of Jaded Edge's origin. Rusty assumed Viridian had built it himself.

...

Dr. Apollo looked through the notes he recovered. "Once we have Viridian, we can finish everything." Apollo said.

"We'll have to catch him first. Even with this plan, it won't be easy." Artemis reminded.

"But we will have him. And then it will be too late to stop us." Apollo answered.

...

"Are you okay?" Indigo felt a need to talk to Rocky Rhodes. She didn't understand what guilt or regret, or even a conscience was. Her conflicted feelings about Rhodes lost memory was beyond her understanding.

"Yeah. Other than the memory loss, I'm fine." Rhodes replied.

"What's it like? Not remembering anything you've done?" Indigo asked.

"It's like there's a giant hole in my mind." Rocky answered. "I can't remember who I was. Did losing my memories change who I am somehow? I don't know."

"I didn't know you very long, or very well." Indigo said. Usually, she wouldn't have an answer. Wouldn't need one.

"Well, maybe we can change that." Rhodes replied.

...

Viridian choose to wait outside during the dance. He watched as someone jumped across rooftops and infiltrated the CCT. Viridian came up with a new idea.

...

Grey walked over to Cardin Winchester. "You found out anything new?" Grey asked.

"I found out that your team found the guy that ratted Viridis out." Cardin answered.

Grey frowned. "There's a reason I kept you out of the loop." He attempted to justify himself.

"He said you didn't trust me. But I know that's not it." Cardin interrupted.

"Someone sabotaged the schools roster." Grey explained.

"I know. One of the students cheated his way in." Cardin said.

"Not just one." Grey noted. "Someone created an opening in the rosters of all four kingdoms. Anyone could have snuck into any Huntsmen Academy."

"How do you know?" Cardin asked.

"I work for someone trying to keep Remnant safe from threats no one sees coming." Grey answered. Grey pointed to a man standing in the shadows. The same man that sent Electricity to spy on Penny. The same man that helped Limone Y'lo find Eclipse. The same man that sent a team to find Viridian. The general.


	21. Losing Focus

**Grey was the most challenging character for me to make. When General Lagune was first meantioned, I wondered what would his descendants be dealing with. Lagune is like the General Custer of RWBY. His children would be plagued by their fathers failure. Probably why Grey doesn't use his last name.**

 **Thank my brother, Anonymous Fanz2, for adding the lines of Charles Silicon and Aurum Light.**

* * *

 **...**

 _ **Losing focus**_

 _Aquamarine seems to be disinterested in talking. Weird. What's weirder is that one of my contacts told me that people are looking for me._

...

Atlasian Knights were deployed around the CCT in response to the recent intrusion. The goal behind the intrusion was already fulfilled, and the culprits escaped. The purpose is unknown to Atlas, but they have seen this happen before, and have prepared in case the same scenario repeats itself.

While Atlas was focused on what the intruder at the CCT was planning, they were less focused on the intruder boarding their ship. Viridian boarded an airship, and searched for a office. Viridian used Sandy Storm's scroll to open the door to an office.

Viridian placed Yankee Sam's scroll on the desk. How Viridian acquired it is unclear, but Sam has been looking for it since team VIRG confronted him. A download icon appeared on Sam's scroll. It received files from the Atlesian database.

"Have you heard about what happened at the Cross Continental Transmit System?" Aurum Light asked. Viridian did not recognize the voice of the former Atlesian Acquisition Specialist, nor did he have a reason to. He quickly hid under the desk.

"It sounds a lot like what Onyx did when Rubine controlled him." Charles Silicon replied. Viridian instantly recognized the voice of one of his Signal Academy teachers. Silicon had no reason to be on an Atlesian airship. Unless he was working with them to find him.

"Stealing the codes isn't going to be enough." Light noted. "They would need to take over General Ironwood's personal Airship if they want to send the codes to the entire army."

"Unless it's a Steele. Then they can copy the codes on any Knight they touch." Silicon reminded. The two entered an empty office.

...

Most of the party didn't notice the events outside. They were too distracted by Jaune Arc wearing a dress, Team JNPR's seemingly spontaneously synchronized dance, and many other unusual events that occurred during the party. Some say that the Grimm could have joined the dance without turning any heads. Hardly anyone noticed students sneaking out or back into the party.

Rusty watch Penny dancing from as close as he could without her two bodyguards noticing him.

"How are you doing?" Viridian asked.

"What the—" Rusty was surprised to find Viridian standing beside him. "I thought you said you weren't coming."

"Someone attacked the CCT. Atlas redirected their security." Viridian replied. "They're so distracted, I was able to steal some intel." Viridian tossed Sam's scroll to Rusty.

"Why do you have Sam's scroll?" Rusty asked. He could see information on it that he didn't want to see.

"Because I don't trust him." Viridian answered.

"Do you trust anyone?" Rusty asked.

"I trusted you enough to go to you first." Viridian responded.

"Is it because you trust me, or because you can't use the scroll without me?" Rusty asked. He's no stranger to manipulators.

"I know how it feels to be unable to get closer to people." Viridan said. "If I tried to dance with Ruby I would be dead." He looked to Yang. "Either Yang will kill me accidentally, or her father will kill me on purpose."

"You can't even begin to understand what I'm going through." Rusty replied. "It's like finding the perfect weapon, and learning no one is ever going to use it." Rusty explained.

"Maybe the weapon doesn't want to be used." Viridian muttered, as he walked away.

...

Aquamarine used Limone's Scroll. "It's me. Is your team going to be ready?" Aquamarine sent a message.

A reply was sent back. "Affirmative."

Aquamarine pocketed the scroll. "He thinks I'm Limone." Aquamarine explained.

"Of course he does." Artemis answered. "He lost focus. He shouldn't have finish to take us and Viridian. That will be his downfall."

...


	22. Springing the trap

**Don't read these notes unless you want Volume 4 finale spoilers.**

 **Can someone pick up the phone, because I totally called that Haven's headmaster works for Salem.**

 **I thought it was Watts because we hadn't been introduced to the Haven's headmaster yet, but I was expecting the plot twist of him being in Haven when they get there. Which did happen. So, I was wrong for the right reasons.**

 **...**

 _ **Springing the trap**_

 _I'm pretty sure one of my contacts told Eclipse I was looking for him. I'm betting on Aquamarine, the guy that refuse_ _d to see me in person._

...

"You think we should go do an Escort mission?" Rocky suggested. Team COPR was seleecting a mission assignment.

"Escort missions usually areannoying." "Olivia answered. Neither of her teams knew her true name. The general kept her identity a secret.

"What's annoying about protecting people?" Penny asked.

"The people being escorted can be ungrateful." "Olivia" replied.

"It's just a mission." The leader, Ciel Soleil said.

"Fine. But I pick which one we take." "Olivia" answered. She selected the assignment.

...

"So, how are we going to get out of mission assignments?" Grey asked his team leader.

"Rusty." Viridian said. Rusty touched the wall.

"Hey. I could put us on a assignment where we shadow a "Taiyang Xaio Long"." Rusty noted, to antagonize Viridian.

"If you do that, I will die." Viridian warned.

"What?" Indigo asked, confused.

"Either he will kill me, or I will kill myself in an act of anger." Viridian explained.

"That sounds extreme." Indigo replied.

"Well, at least you could run off without looking suspicious." Grey noted.

"Find another assignment." Viridian ordered.

"I can make it look like our assignment request never went through." Rusty noted.

"Do it." Viridian responded.

...

Gunmetal Industries Loaderbots followed a man wearing a red cloak, carrying large supply crates. "Where did you get all of this?" Rosewood asked.

"Roman Torchwick owes me." The cloaked stranger answered.

"What's in the box?" Ash asked.

"You'll find out soon enough." The stranger replied.

"You're going to draw this out for dramatic tension." Ash said, disappointed by the lack of an answer.

"It's probably just Dust." Rosewood noted.

"You'd be surprised what he's stolen." The stranger noted. Torchwick's latest allies have enabled him to steal from Atlas, instead of simple store owners.

"Just tell us what's inside the box!" Ash snapped.

"No." The stranger calmly answered.

...

Team COPR walked towards a bullhead Gunship. Teal Aquamarine exited the Gunship. "So, you kids are supposed to be shadowing me." Aquamarine studied the team. He recognized Rhodes, but no one else.

"We are to follow any instructions you give us." Soleil replied.

"You look familiar." Rocky noted. He tried to remember where he heard Aquamarine's voice.

"Some people forget the face of the man that saved their lives." Aquamarine replied. He did not realize Rhodes didn't remember him. "I almost forgot to introduce myself; Limone Y'lo, private detective and Huntsman." Aquamarine and team COPR boarded the Bullhead.

"Aquamarine stole Limone's identify." Viridian noted.

"They don't know how what kind of trouble they're in." Grey added.

"I guess we should warn them." Indigo replied. She activated the stolen cloaking mechanism she added to her stolen gunship, Shadow Hawk. Shadow Hawk took off, without anyone noticing.


	23. Breaking and entering

**I'm almost done with this first volume. The final battle of this story begins. I hope you've been reading my brother's stories, because an important character is about to appear.**

 **...**

* * *

 ** _Breaking and entering_**

 _An old friend of mine tried to contact me. Another former teammate. I'm getting the feeling that my entire team is involved in this._

...

The Bullhead dropped on the roof of a Gunmetal Industries factory. It was abandoned by the company in favor of more efficient factories constructed elsewhere. The factory was currently being used by Eclipse as a base of operations.

The Shadow Hawk landed on the roof of a bookstore on the other side of the street. Team VRGO observed the factory. "That's where they've been hiding." Grey commented.

"It's where they're going to end." Viridian replied, focusing on the building. He jumped across the street, smashing through a window. His team followed him, to find that factory was empty.

"Where is evryone?" Indigo asked. There was no sign of anyone inside of the factory.

Rusty placed his hand on a wall. He used his semblance to open concealed elevator in the walls. "My uncle built hidden rooms in some of his buildings." Rusty explained.

"Why didn't you use one in the factory?" Grey asked.

"Because I don't know which factories have them." Rusty replied. "My uncle never liked sharing his things."

"Hurry up before someone notices we're here." Viridian warned. The team boarded the elevator, which Rusty activated with his semblance.

...

The elevator stopped in an underground base. "What is this place?" Indigo asked.

"My uncle built hidden lairs under some of his buildings, incase he ever lost the company." Rusty explained.

"How did Eclipse find this place?" Viridian asked.

"I dunno. My dad killed my uncle. He's the only one that knew where these places were." Rusty replied.

"And they need a Steele to open the door." Grey added.

"Maybe this isn't Eclipse's lair. They could just be using Ellie to find some loot." Indigo noted.

""Ellie"?" Rusty asked. He never meantioned his sister's name.

"Your sister. That's a nickname I gave her." Indigo explained. Rusty remembered that Indigo never identified which of his siblings she met before him.

Viridian opened a door. "Look in here." He ordered. The room was filled with Grimm related relics. Weapons and treasures belonging to heroes and tyrants.

"These are probably worth—Ooh, something shiny." Indigo cut off her own sentence, and grabbed a crown with a red jewel. She placed the crown on her hat. "My hat looks so cool now!" Indigo exclaimed.

"Are you trying to get us caught?" Grey asked.

"I want all of the loot!" Indigo shouted.

"Look at what we have we here!" Ash anounced. He, Cyclone and Flint entered the room. "Viridian Viridis and his team."

"First the Atlas student team comes to us, and now you do the same." Cyclone said.

"Sounds a little too convientent, don't you think." Grey noted.

An explosion came from the upper floor. Flint aimed his bow towards the elevator. It was not being summoned. The elevator suddonly exploded. One man walked out of the fire. His name was Onyx Rider.


	24. The Ghosts of Onyx

**The Ghosts of Onyx.** **I was planning on introducing the Ghosts in this moment for a while. Because my brother forgot to mention it, I created one of the Ghosts, specifically with the purpose of showing up in this story, tying the two stories together.**

 **I also have an answer to a question asked in the reviews.**

 **Nintendoborn: There are no "armored halo guys". Teal Aquamarine's just happens to look like Tucker from Red vs Blue, while Limone Y'lo weilds a weapon that is coincidentally identical in appearance and function to the Grifshot from the same series, and have a scientist teammate that weilds a sniper and is being hunted by a super-soldier/love-interest.**

 **Probably because their team is inspired by Red Vs Blue.**

* * *

 ** _The Ghosts of Onyx_**

 _"So my teammate has some kind of a plan. I find Viridian Viridis, get him to join Beacon. The plan is more convoluted than that, but that's as far ahead as I can think. Foresight was not my semblance."_

...

The hallway filled with smoke. Onyx wore a black duster, with a metallic crimson trim. A crimson scarf matching the trim of his coat covered his mouth, and extended down towards his waist, like a cape. His eyes were concealed by black shooting glasses with red tinted lenses.

In the smoke, Onyx could not be seen, but the three Mercenaries could hear his footsteps. Onyx was intentionally approaching them slowly, without masking his presence. His goal was to intimidate them, tricking them into attacking him first.

Cyclone fired a blast towards the ceiling above the door, blocking it. He fired a second blast at a wall, creating an escape route. "We need to warn the others." Cyclone ordered. The three ran through the hole.

Onyx waited near the entrance. Brass wore a more casual attire, wearing a white tank top, jeans, brown boots. His belt has ammo pouches for his bronze gauntlets, both equiped with machine guns.

Brass was followed by Volt. He wore a brown leather jacket, with matching gloves and boots, a silver left shoulder pad, and jeans with a silver buckled belt. He weilds dual sabers with gun-barrels for ranged combat.

Aurum Light appeared next, wearing a dark grey turtleneck. His armor that resembled Grimm bones, and protected his boots, wrists, and arround his chest. His baggy pants were held up by a black leather belt with a buckle made of the same material as his armor. His weapon was a sword that also functioned as a gun, as many weapons did.

Second to last was Charles Silicon, wearing a more formal attire than his teammates. He wore a brown suit, with a red tie, and black gloves. His weapon was a baton, which could transform into a variety of weapons.

The final was Forrest Camo. He wore standard Atlesian assassin armor, which was similar in appearance to the Atlesian Soldier's armor. The most noticeable differences were the faceplate concealing his mouth, and the black color scheme. Camo brought a a standard issue Atlesian sword and pistol.

"They're here." Onyx confirmed. He had the ability to sense aura, locating anyone within 200 meters of his position.

"My intel says this is the only exit." Camo noted. As the only member of the team with knowledge of Eclipse, he was given leadership for this particular mission.

"Someone should hold this position incase Eclipse tries to escape." Light suggested.

"Brass, you're going to stay here." Camo ordered.

"What? Don't you need me in the fight?" Brass asked. He was eager for the chance to fight.

"We need to strike quickly, before they can prepare a defense. That means we need speed, not strength." Camo explained. Brass reluctantly obeyed.

"Think of it as being our backup." Volt added. Brass glared at Volt, unamused.

"We shouldn't waste any more time on conversation." Light reminded.

"The rest of us are splitting into teams." Camo ordered. "Silicon, go with light. Volt, your with me."

"You're sending me alone?" Onyx asked.

"You don't look like you need the help." Camo responded. Onyx's new power placed him on a level ahead of most of the fighters Eclipse recruited.

"True." Onyx replied. The groups spread throughout the halls.

Silicon stopped Light. "Do you sense him, too?" Silicon asked.

"An unusual presence. I felt before. After the CCT was attacked." Light confirmed.

"It feels distorted. And I can't track it as well as the others." Silicon noted.

"Even if it's our enemy, we've encountered worse." Light replied. While he feared the unknown enemy reasonably, it's unlikely to be a threat near the level of Umbra, their most recently defeated adversary.

"It feels familiar. From somewhere else. But I can't place it." Silicon noted.

...


	25. Point of no return

**I was going to include a fight scene last chapter, but I felt that I should have devoted it more to introducing the Ghosts.**

 **...**

* * *

 _ **Point of no return**_

 _"Viridis is at Beacon. I'll report in the morning. Right now, I'm too tired to get a word in."_

...

An exhausted Limone Y'lo crawled into bed. He dropped his weapon on the floor, too lazy to find somewhere else to leave it. He had just tricked Professor Ozpin into recruiting Viridian. Ozpin's understanding of Viridian's origins would make him see Viridian as a possible tool to be used in the possible war he may be faced with in the future.

The most important part to setting up the plan was timing his meeting shortly after the recruitment of Ruby Rose. Limone had no part in causing the event, instead acting on orders of the Atlesian General. The General waited years for a moment where Ozpin takes an action connecting to Viridian's life, without his influence. He couldn't risk Viridian linking Ozpin to him.

The door to Limone's apartment unexpectedly opened. Limone grabbed his scroll, and tried to use it to remotely close the door. The door would not respond. "Stupid thing." Limone grummbled.

"It's not the scrolls fault." Teal Aquamarine's voice replied. Limone was too tired to see the intruder clearly. He appeared to be standing in three places at once.

"What are you doing here?" Limone asked.

"We're taking you as our prisoner." The red cloaked man answered. Limone realized he had plural intruders. One of them was standing on his weapon.

"Alright, I surrender."

...

Limone's hair grew longer since Apollo tortured him. It began obscuring his vision. He could still hear everything going on in his surroundings.

Rosewood stood before him. "You may have convinced Apollo that you don't know anything, but I wasn't here then." Rosewood explained. She drew a Dust powered whip, and ignited it.

"Great, more third degree burns for my scar collection." Limone commented. He could hear footsteps above him. Four sets of them. Throughout his imprisonment, he has never seen more than two mercenaries enter the dungeon, and another mercenary already brought over prisoners.

"You won't be joking after this." Rosewood replied. She swung her whip back, preparing for a lash. It was caught by Viridian, who pulled on it, yanking Rosewood towards him. Rosewood was caught off guard, a fell backwards. Indigo quickly froze her with Dust.

"That won't hold her for long." Rusty noted.

Viridian looked at Limone. "Why are you here?" Viridian asked.

"Eclipse didn't like that I helped you." Limone replied. Viridian used Jaded Edge to break Limone's chains.

"What did they do to you?" Grey asked, noticing Limone's scars and burned clothes.

"Torture." Limone answered plainly.

"Did they bring anyone else down here?" Rusty asked.

"Someone took prisoners to some other part of this place." Limone answered. Limone didn't know where exactly he was. He could only recognize that it was dark, with most of the light focused on him. But he could hear everything around him.

"We need to find them." Viridian said. "Grey, make sure noone comes in or out while we go to free the others." Viridian, Rusty, Indigo, and Limone moved deeper into the dungeon.

...

A mercenary fired an assault rifle across the hall. Volt charged him, using a combination of his aura and semblance to negate the damage. He thrusted both of his swords at the mercenary, knocking him into the wall with enough force to break his aura.

The red cloaked man approched them. "So, you're the idiots that tried to attack us." He pulled out a disk shaped weapon. It was shaped like a circle, with an open space in the center. It had glowing red lights curcling the sides.

"What kind of weapon is that?" Volt asked.

"You'll see." The cloaked man answered. He threw the disk, which Volt deflected. The cloaked man caught the disk and used it to slash at Volt. Volt leaped backwards and fired at the cloaked man. He deflected the shots using the disk. Volt swung his swords, which were caught by the space in the center of the disk.

Camo used this as an opening to use his sword to knock the cloaked man off balance. The red cloaked man quickly recovered, using on hand to send himself over their heads. The disk trapping Volt's swords suddenly started glowing brighter, and exploded, knocking Volt back.

Camo ran towards the cloaked man, firing his pistol. The cloaked man deflected the shots with a blue disk he concealed inside his cloak. Camo swung his sword, which was blocked by the disk. Camo used the pistol at point blank range to hit the cloaked man. The cloaked man jumped backwards, throwing his disk to Camo. Camo sliced the disk in half, creating a burst of Ice Dust.

The cloaked man pulled out two more disks. "The glow is from element based Dust." Camo noted. He broke himself out of the ice, using sheer force. Volt and Camo jumped off of opposite walls to charge at the cloaked man. The cloaked man blocked both swords, but was pushed back. Volt charged the cloaked man, slashing rapidly. The red cloaked man tried to block, but he could not match Volt's speed.

Camo leaped over Volt. With his back turned, he moved the sword over the head of the cloaked man, and pulled it towards him. The cloaked man had his back forced against Camo's back, and his throat subjected to force. He was being choked by the sword.

There was one last measure the cloaked man prepared. He grabbed his scroll, and it sent a command.

...

Silicon formed his weapon as a dual-bladed sword, and deflected blasts fired at him by Cyclone. Cyclone backed up into a storage room, to give himself more space. Silicon separated the blade into two separate blades. Light used his sword to knocked Ash into the room. Ash used his dust projectors to propelling himself towards Silicon. Silicon leapt away from the attack.

The crates suddenly started shaking. The openings on them were repeatedly banged on, until they were finally knocked open. Several of the new Atlesian Knights were released. The Knights immediately targeted Silicon and Light, sending a barrage of fire across the room.

Light dematerialized, seemingly turing into a ball of light, and rematerialized behind Cyclone. He used his weapon as a railgun, it's alternative mode, and surprised Cyclone with a shot to the back. Cyclone was knocked out by the blast.

Silicon used his swords to slice apart the Knights faster than they could track him. Ash observed Silicons attacks, and tried to predict where Silicon would strike last. He blasted fired at a Knight Silicon was attacking. However, Silicon was unaffected by the fire.

Light fired at Ash. Ash rolled out of the way, but Silicon was fast enough to move in front of him, and grab his wrists. Silicon used his semblance to reform the molecules within Ash's Dust Projectors, causing them to explode.

...

Viridian fired arrows, breaking the chains holding Electricity.

"You can thank us later." Rusty said.

"Thank you?! We were supposed to be bait!" Electricity yelled.

"You're being ungrateful." Indigo commented.

"We were being used to find Eclipse's base." Electricity explained. "It was all part of Aquamarine's plan."

"Aquamarine, the Eclipse Mercenery." Viridian said.

"He's undercover." Electricity explained.

"That explains a lot." Limone noted. "He was the guy that painted Rhodes as a traitor, and left after I showed up to help Viridis."

"How did you not already know this?" Rusty asked.

"The person that knows all the details of the incredibly convoluted plan I'm helping is somewhere in Atlas." Limone answered.

"Where are the others?" Viridian asked.

"Our leader, Ciel is somewhere down here. They sent Rocky to see Apollo. And the Red guy took Penny." Electricity explained.

"We should split up to find them faster." Viridian said.

"Or run away. The Atlas guys are probably tearing up the place right now, they're probably not going to be happy to see you." Electricity warned.

"I know. But I'm going to end Eclipse before I leave." Viridian said. In the past, Viridian would have left. But now, he has a team. And a responsibility to lead that team.


	26. Duelists and deceptions

**Aquamarine was the spy. This was alluded to in Age of Chaos, before Aquamarine decided to turn on Onyx. Speaking of Onyx, we haven't seen much of him, have we? I wonder where he could be?**

 **...**

* * *

 ** _Duelists and Deceptions_**

 _"Grimm Log 1-9: I have found that the Grimm are easier to study when they don't know I'm studying them. It is likely they are being purposefully resistant to my research attempts_ _."_

...

"How could you turn on us?" Apollo asked. He and Luna Artemis were interrogating Rhodes on what appeared to be a shipwreck.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Rocky explained.

Flint ran to Artemis and Apollo. "We're under attack." Flint warned.

"What? By who?" Apollo asked, surprised. Artemis did not share his shocked reaction. "I heard rumors that the Umbra Agency's surviving test subjects were reunited. They appear to be true." Artemis explained her knowledge of the situation.

"But how could they locate us?" Apollo asked.

"Their abilities are impressive, but to locate the entrance to our base, they must have followed someone." Artemis answered.

"It was me." Aquamarine stated.

"So this is your fault." Flint accused.

"I lead them here, on purpose." Aquamarine spoke slowly, to make sure they understood him.

"You were the traitor." Apollo realized.

"Yes. I'm part of the larger plan to destroy you and Viridian, before either of you can do any damage." Aquamarine explained. He drew his weapon in gun form.

Flint fired an arrow in a second and a half. Aquamarine sliced the arrow only a second later. He charged Flint, before he could draw another arrow, grabbing him by the throat, and tossing him across the room. Aquamarine swung his sword at Apollo, who caught it with his right hand, and countered with three left jabs, and a right hook. "It's time I showed you why I'm in charge." Apollo said.

...

Camo held the cloaked man in place using his sword choking technique. The cloaked man dropped another red disk, which exploded, separating the two. "You're going to wish you didn't make me fight seriously." The cloaked man said.

"You have no idea what he's up against." Volt warned.

"I can say the same for you." The cloaked man replied. He pulled out a small cylinder. The clyinder emitted a continuous red beam extending a few feet. This weapon was a Dust Powered Energy Blade, which focused the Dust into the beam. It consumes a lot of dust to use, making it an expensive weapon to use.

The cloaked man swung at Camo first. Camo attempted to block, but the high powered dust melted through the sword. The cloaked man swung his sword furiously, from 4 directions. Left, down, right, up. The strikes knocked Camo away.

Volt sheathed one of his swords, and held the other sword forward, in a fencers stance. "Let's make it a fair fight. No semblances." Volt decided the terms. "Fine." The cloake man replied. The cloaked man gripped both his sword with both hands in a different stance, preparing to battle swordman to swordsman.

The cloaked man slashed from the right, which Volt blocked. The red cloaked swordsman jumped over Volt, spinning in 920 degrees before swinging his sword at Volt's legs. Volt jumped back, and bounced off a wall to gain more momentum on his follow up attack: A running slash. The cloaked man caught the sword, using his aura to keep himself from suffering any harm, and kicked Volt away.

Volt rolled to recover, and threw his sword at the cloaked man. The cloaked man turned to dodge, while moving foward to thrust his own sword. Volt caught the sword, and used his semblance to drain the energy from the sword's Dust, making it useless. He used his other hand to grab his sheathed sword, and slash at the cloaked man. The cloaked man was knocked into a wall.

The cloaked man got up. "You said you wouldn't use your Semblance." He said.

"I lied." Volt replied.

"Good. I wasn't planning to fight fair, either." The cloaked man answered. An unmanned Atlesian Paladin smashed through the walls. It targeted Volt. The Paladin fired multiple rockets at Volt.

Before they could reach their inteneded target, they were held in place by a force stronger than their rockets. Polarity. "You forgot about me." Camo reminded. He used a borrowed polarity semblance to send the rockets back at the Paladin, exposing it's core systems. Camo fired one bullet at the exposed CPU, disabling the Paladin.

Camo and Volt turned to face the cloaked man, only to find that he had vanished. "Brass, you got someone headed your way." Volt warned. An explosion immediately followed, shaking the building. "That was fast." Volt replied.

"That wasn't powerful enough to be Brass." Camo noted.

"Rider?" Volt suggested, unsure of who else could shake the entire area.

...

Aquamarine used his Semblance to create a massive explosion, destroying the entire ship, and shaking the building.

A nearby ship had a door open, where Viridian and Grey walked out." What just happened?" Grey asked. "Where are we?" Grey was confused. There's no way they've traveled far enough to reach any islands. And this was not an island he recognized. Not to meantion they just exited a ship, which they were in the base.

"This is where Eclipse keeps their captured Grimm." Limone explained, as he followed the two onto the ship.

"You can't capture Grimm." Grey said.

"You can if they don't know they've been caught." Limone replied. "The room is made to create the illusion of shipswrecked on a deserted Island." The detail placed into the room's design was precise. Sailors were murdered on the ships to create negative emotions caused by death. The damage to them was meant to simulate mutinies, raids, and Grimm attacks caused by both.

"Are there any Grimm still here?" Viridian asked.

"I dunno. I've never been here before. All I know is Dr. Rifleman built this place a long time ago. Before Eclipse took it." Limone asked. Limone didn't care much for his teammates activities after his team split up.

"We need to find Rhodes and get out of here." Viridian said.

"Where we're going, we won't need roads." Viridian turned around to see Onyx Rider.

...


	27. Onyx Rider

**Orginally, Rocky Rhodes was going to have Rusty's spot on the team. He's named for an ice-cream flavor, like NEO, and was originally planned to be connected to Roman Torchwick in his backstory. This was before I came up with Eclipse, so I didn't use him there. I might still use that link in the plot later, when their retracing his forgotten backstory, but that depends on a few factors.**

 **Rocky is also based on Rocky from the Rocky films. His fighting style is based on outlasting his opponents, making them wear themselves out, rather than dealing damage. In a long lasting fight, he'll win. But in a short fight, his chances aren't as good.**

* * *

 **...**

 _ **Onyx Rider**_

 _"Grimm Log 1-12. I've finished constructing my nee Grimm containment facility. My benefactor has dubbed it "The Zoo". While my research has crossed a number of moral lines, I do believe that I've done so for the right reasons: Stopping the Grimm, before they inevitably destroy everything on Remnant._

...

Viridian and Onyx stared at each other. "You're the anomaly." Onyx said, refrencing the distortion that Light and Silicon sensed, as he could also sense it.

Viridian held Jaded Edge in crossbow form, aiming it at Onyx. "We don't have time for this, Eclipse is going to escape soon." Limone explained.

"It wouldn't matter if you did." Dr. Artemis interrupted. "At most, you'd just slow us down." She

"0-2." Onyx replied.

"Hello, Onyx Rider." Dr. Artemis responded. "I see Forrest Camo recruited you to help erase our existence."

"You're trying to create a weapon you can't control." Onyx answered, disinterested in small talk.

"It's nothing the Umbra Agency didn't do to make us." Dr. Artemis replied.

"That isn't justification for your actions." Onyx reminded.

"Since when does one require justification for doing the right thing?" Dr. Artemis asked. "Moral justifications are for those who need to judge their own choices." She explained. "Our work could permanently remove the Grimm as a threat."

"By creating a new one." Onyx answered.

"I see you're adamant on looking at this through Camo's perspective, exclusively." Dr. Artemis said, disappointed. She turned to Viridian. "Viridian, I believe you should know which of your enemies you should be fighting right now."

"You're resorting to recruiting children to fight your own battles?" Onyx asked, almost tauntingly.

"I don't see why I shouldn't take this opportunity to make a partnership." Dr. Artemis answered, as if it were a serious question.

"Temporary partnership." Viridian restated. He aimed Jaded Edge at Onyx, in crossbow form.

"Put the crossbow down before you get hurt." Onyx warned. Viridian fired. Onyx caught the arrow, and threw it aside. Dr. Artemis waved her hands, and suddenly sent rocks in Onyx's direction. Onyx jumped out of the way, and used his aura to create a construct of Dark Sympathy, a katana that he used often in his time as a mercenary. Onyx created a ranged slash from his aura, directed at Dr. Artemis, who telekinetically moved a tree to block.

Onyx attempted to slash her directly, but Dr. Artemis's telekinesis held him in place. Viridian charged at Onyx, slashing horizontally. The attack went through Onyx, as if he weren't there, despite him being unable to move. Viridian remained still after the slash. He fired behind him, hitting the Onyx in the back.

Onyx brushed off his cloak. "I don't like beating up children, but I might make an exception this one time." Onyx noted. He fired a blast from his aura at Viridian. The blast was blocked by Jaded Edge. Onyx used inhuman speed to move around Viridian, and kick him in the back.

...

Apollo launched a series of jabs at Aquamarine's head. He followed with a left uppercut, which Aquamarine caught with one hand. Aquamarine wasted no time, and used his other hand to point his gun to Apollo's face. Apollo turned to dodge the gunshot, and quickly countered with a punch to the gut.

Aquamarine proceeded to swing his sword at Apollo's head. Apollo leaned backwards to evade the blade, while using his reach to hit Aquamarine with a jab in the process. Apollo immediately followed up by moving closer, preparing a right hook. Aquamarine moved his free hand to block, only to be hit by an unexpected left jab.

Aquamarine shot Apollo below the belt with an Ice Dust crystal. Apollo was close enough to grab the weapon with his right hand. He used his left hand to punch Aquamarine in the side of the head. Aquamarine fired gun in the air, and the crystals damaged the ceiling, causing debris to hit Apollo. Apollo used Helios Glare to send the mercenary into a wall.

...

Rusty and Indigo ran across the halls. "Do you even know where your going?" Indigo asked.

"My uncle built this place. I know how he thinks." Rusty replied. "He definitely would have built a magnetized room, incase someone tried to send robots to assassinate him. That's where their keeping Penny." Rusty explained. Most of the Steele simblings are constantly at war over possession of Gunmetal Industries. It was much worse with the previous generation than the current.

Rusty opened a door. The red cloaked man was preparing to leave, with a paralyzed Penny over his shoulders. "Unfortunate." His tone carried less regret, than it did annoyance.

Rusty recognized the voice of the cloaked man. "Damascus?! You're supposed to be dead!" Rusty exclaimed.

"Why are you making such a big deal about it?" Damascus Steele asked.

"You're supposed to be dead." Rusty answered.

"Dead people don't usually take hostages." Penny noted. A ringed device around her arms was disabling her movements using a magnetism to restrict her mechanical parts motions.

"I'm just here to look after my investments." Damascus explained.

"That's all you see in things. Money." Rusty noted.

"Everything has a price." Damascus replied. "For example, I'm sure Atlas would be willing to pay a lot of money to make sure I don't steal the designs and sell them to some private corporation."

"That's assuming you actually get away with this." Rusty remined. Rusty used his upper mechanical arms to fire at Damascus, who dropped Penny so he could rush past the two students. "Indigo, get Penny out of here." Rusty ordered.

"And what are you going to do." Indigo asked.

"I'm making sure Damascus stays dead this time." Rusty answered.

...

"Everyone of the fighters I recruited, I choose because of their natural fighting talent." Apollo explained.

"I don't care about that right now." Aquamarine responded, aggressively.

"Rocky Rhodes. Damascus Steel. Jet Black. And yourself." Apollo listed. "You possessed unique fighting traits. Endurance, resourcefulness, technique, and strategy."

A grenade knocked Apollo into the simulated ocean. "You talk way to much." Limone said. "Wait, I should have made a pun. That sounds way cooler in a one-liner."

"You never changed." Aquamarine observed. Although it couldn't be seen behind his helmet, there was a smile on the mercenary's face.

Apollo used his laser to propell himself into the air, then fired it at Limone. Limone blocked with his weapon, while Aquamarine returned fire. Apollo ran closer to Aquamarine, while simultaneously dodging the bullets. This seems like an impossible feat, but Helios Glare changed that. The cybernetic eye could predict the possible firing angles of Aquamarine's weapon.

Aquamarine reacted by creating a shockwave to push Apollo back. Limone fired a grenade at Apollo, which was caught and tossed at Aquamarine. Apollo grabbed Limone by the throat. "I think you need to be reminded of what I can do." Apollo said, with his cybernetic eye glowing. Grey punched Apollo in the back, creating an explosion that sent him into a wall.

Apollo looked at Grey. "You." Apollo said, glaring.

...

Onyx grabbed Viridian by the neck, and threw him into a rock. Viridian stayed by the rock. "This is over. You won't win." Dr. Artemis said.

"What makes you say that?" Onyx asked, unconvinced.

"You felt that change in your Chaos Aura?" Dr. Artemis asked. Onyx glared. "The Grimm are moving. They're about to attack Vale any second now."

"How would you know that?" Onyx asked.

"We recruited Damascus Steele." Dr. Artemis answered vaguely. "Roman Torchwick, the one leading the attack, owes Steele a few favors." Dr. Artemis explained.

"How is Torchwick controlling the Grimm?" Onyx asked.

"Not controlling. Heralding. He's leading them into Vale on an explosive train." Dr. Artemis explained.

"That's what he needed the Dust for." Viridian muttered.

"Why does any of that matter? The chaos is going to give me more power." Onyx reminded.

"Because Viridian isn't just some ordinary Huntsman student." Dr. Artemis answered.

Viridian jumped onto the rock, which suddenly moved. It was not a rock, but a dormant Grimm. A Basilisk of higher rank than the first one team VIRG encountered.


	28. The Breach

**The Basilisk is still alive. It's been living there for a great many years, and now is noticing some of the chaos caused by the Breach, which is happening simultaneously.**

 **I'm going to go back into the dark side of the story, so if you couldn't handle Volume 3, you might not be comfortable reading this. Then again, you aren't actually watching it happen, so you might not has as much trouble.**

 **...**

* * *

 _ **The Breach**_

Damascus blocked strikes coming from Rusty's four mechanical limbs using his wrists. Unless he could maintain a grip on it, he'd be unable to use his semblance to take control. Even if he did, Rusty could still block his attempts using the same semblance. Damascus threw a blue disk at Rusty, which Rusty caught with his hands and disabled using his Semblance.

Rusty dropped the disk, and used all four of his mechanical limbs to leap backwards onto a wall. He quickly catapulted forward, and punched Damascus's face. Damascus was knocked back by the force of the attack. He quickly recovered, backflipping to land on his two feat.

"You're probably expecting dad to hand you Gunmetal Industries after when you bring me to him." Damascus assumed.

"You don't know me. I hate when people assume I'm like the others." Rusty countered.

"It doesn't matter. You can't win here." Damascus replied.

"What makes you say that?" Rusty asked.

"The fact that I have more experience." Damascus answered.

Damascus threw another disk at Rusty. Rusty caught and disabled it. Damascus grabbed Rusty, and threw him into the magnetized room. Damascus touched the walls, and used his Semblance to activate the magnets in the room. The floors, cielings, and walls pushed Rusty's metal limbs towards the center of the room, trapping Rusty in the air.

...

"It seems that the commotion above us is affecting our captured Grimm." Dr. Artemis observed. The Basilisk stared at the ceiling, as if it could see the surface above. It started moving, leaving dark puddles in it's path for more Grimm to crawl out of.

Viridian jumped off of the Basilisk, stabbing his sword into the ground to create a shockwave. Onyx rushed through the shockwave, barely slowed down by the force. Viridian fired Jaded Edge to launch himself into the air. He fired the weapon again to boost a slash at Onyx, who blocked the blades with one of his hands, allowing him to grab Viridian using the other. Onyx threw Viridian into the air and fired a large blast of energy using his aura. Viridian vanished in the explosion, but Onyx could still sense his aura, indicating he was alive.

Since Onyx couldn't track Viridian's location using his aura sense, he decided to rely on his hearing. He could hear Viridian running in his direction. Behind him. Onyx turned around, and caught Viridian's sword mid-stab. Viridian released the sword, and jumped over Onyx, spinning 720 degrees over Onyx. When Viridian landed, he swung his fist at Onyx, who flew backwards to dodge, without taking any time to jump, seemingly gliding across the air. Onyx telekinetically pushed Viridian back, moving him past his sword. Viridian grabbed it, and rushed towards Onyx, who did the same. They punched each other, causing a massive explosion of force.

The two slid backwards. Onyx used his aura to power up, turning his hair into a red flame. His aura took a similar apearance. "How many abilities do you have?" Viridian asked. "Enough to beat you." Onyx answered.

...

Apollo glared at Grey. Grey charged forward, using Hydrospear to melee with both the blunt and bladed ends of the weapon in a fierce combo attack. Apollo blocked each strike with his wrists, grabbing the spear during a stab. He fired his optic laser to send Grey into a wall.

Apollo looked to Aquamarine. "Is that your son?" He asked, coldly, as if his anger had fled. Aquamarine grabbed Limone's weapon and aimed it at Apollo. "I'm going to kill him." Apollo said, as he lifted Grey off the ground. He maintained his emotionless tone.

"Don't do it." Aquamarine warned. Apollo stared directly into Grey's eyes. Grey was angrily glaring back. Aquamarine fired a grenade while Apollo fired Helios Glare into Grey's right eye.


	29. Finishing the Fight

**Helios Glare is inspired by Cyclops from X Men, who uses a red visor to focus his powerful optic lasers. Sol Apollo is inspired by Apollo from the Rocky films, and Prometheus, the Titan who gave humans fire, and ended up getting his liver eaten repeated by Eagles because Zeus. It was a terrible fate.**

 **...**

 _ **Finishing the fight**_

The room was shaken by shockwaves. The blows clashing between Viridian and Onyx were like explosions of force compressed into every attack. Viridian swung his sword at Onyx, who weaved to avoid the slash. Viridian used the sword to balance as he kicked Onyx with both legs, then follow up with a upwards slash, and a spinning back-fist strike. Viridian was going to end with a downwards slash, but Onyx caught the Jaded Edge before it reach his face.

"Incoming!" Brass appeared seemingly out of nowhere, preparing to drop from the sky and punch the ground with his semblance, which causes massive explosions that made Grey and Aquamarine's semblances seem like firecrackers compared to a grenade. Brass was stopped inches before hitting Viridian by Artemis. "Brass. Always so impulsive." Artemis said. "The one time a warning wasn't necessary." Onyx sighed.

"Ash reported that he is fighting someone with the ability to transform into a ball of light, and another with the ability to destroy solid objests with his bare hands. Charles Silicon, and Aurum Light, I presume." Dr. Artemis noted. Onyx hair and eyes returned to their normal color.

...

Ash dual weilded Atlesian Knight's rifles to fire back at the two Ghosts chasing him. Light dematerialized, flying past Ash to block the other end of the hallway. Ash blasted a hole into a wall, and ran into a different room.

...

"I also heard reports of a swordsman unaffected by Dust, and an Atlesian soldier wearing an unidentified stealth armor. Camo and Volt." Dr. Artemis continued. "And you two are here. So who's guarding the exit?" Artemis asked.

...

Damascus quickly ran inside of the damaged elevator, and ran up the walls of the Elevator shaft to reach the top. An arrow was fired, used by Flint to grapple to the top.

...

"Unless someone came back from the dead, there's no one left watching the door." Dr. Artemis concluded. "You won't be leaving." Onyx said. "Why is that?" Dr. Artemis asked. "Because when I activated Verto, the others noticed." Onyx answerered. "You used the transformation as a signal. Clever." Sol Apollo said, leaving the ship. "But I'm going to leave with Viridian, even if I have to kill him to do it." Apollo threatened. "That's unnecessary." Artemis noted. "It's never happening." Onyx said.

Apollo fired a laser. Onyx fired a beam to intercept Apollo's. The beams struggled, clashing with each other. Onyx's reactivated his Verto, turning hair and eyes red again, and restoring the flames from his aura to gain more power. "Those powers are weakening you overtime." Apollo observed. Apollo's beam moved closer towards Onyx. "I can see it in your aura. Even if you beat me, you won't have enough aura left to fight Viridian." Apollo said. Onyx smirked. "I'm not at full power yet!" Onyx warned. His aura changed, the flames growing. The beam Onyx created suddenly started forcing it's way through Apollo's. Apollo was knocked towards Brass. Brass smashed his fists together, creating a massive explosion that covered the entire island.

The ships were pushed by the explosions shockwave, rocking everything on board. "This is insane." Limone said, watching from one of the ships.

Apollo's labcoat was disintigrated by the explosion, leaving only a tattered red undershirt, dirty white sneakers, and torn blue jean. His aura sustained intself after the explosion.

"That was unnecessary." Onyx said. He helped Brass up from the ground. Brass used all of his aura to create the explosion, which had no other affect on him. Onyx shifted into another dimension to avoid losing aura, another of his many abilities.

Artemis was knocking into the ocean, by the explosion. She flew out of the water by using her telekinesis to move herself. Her aura was untouched before the explosion, and wasn't as damaged as the others.

Viridian stood on top of the Armored Basilisk, both apparently unaffected by the explosion. The Basilisk's armor was incredibly tough, with the only downside being that it slows down the creature to the point of being nearly incapable of offense.

"You killed all of the trees." Viridian noted. The island was now devoid of plant life. The palm trees the grew on it were defenseless against Brasses attack. The other Grimm were eliminated, though the Armored Basilisk continued to make more as it moved. "Why does everyone hate trees?" Viridian asked.

Two portals opened. The first was used by Volt and Camo. The second was used by Light and Silicon. "It doesn't matter how many of you come to bury Ozpin's secrets. I'm going to use Viridian to destroy the Grimm." Apollo declared.

Viridian punched Apollo in the face, sending him into the air. In an instant, Viridian was in front of Apollo. Viridian used one hand to grab Apollo by the throat and slam him on the ground, creating a smokescreen from the sand, which Viridian vanished in. "You talk to much." Were the last words heard from Viridian.

Apollo attempt to fire Helios Glare, but it would not activate. Artemis used her telekinesis to pull him towards the exit. "This fight is pointless. I have everything we need to create another Viridian." Artemis explained. "How are you going find time to do that, while you're rotting in prison?" Volt asked.

"General Ironwood knows where Dr. Rifleman is." Artemis said. "How would he know that?" Camo asked. "He had her work on an Aura related project. Codename Penny." Artemis answered. Onyx fired a blast, disrupting an illusion cast on the Ghosts. Artemis and Apollo fled.

Onyx pulled out a glowing red crystal. "The Shard is sensing another item nearby. Artemis must have been using it." Onyx concluded. "The illusion wasn't lying." Camo noted. He opened a portal and walked through it. The others followed.

...


	30. The truth

**This** **is the final chapter of Project Eclipse. I'm going to make a sequel, but I don't know when I'm going to start it. I'm planning on resuming my other stories now, since writing this one consumes a lot more energy. I have to analyze RWBY episodes, look at what we know and don't know about certain elements, and use those elements.**

 **...**

* * *

 ** _The Truth_**

 _"Grimm Log: Despite their best attempts, Atlas hasn't been able to locate any more of my labs. I am uncertain of Viridian's current fate. Ultimately, I have to remain hopeful that_ _Camo is unable to locate him or the others."_

...

Proffesor Ozpin's office in Beacon Tower includes the a set of slow moving gears. These gears are designed as part of a clockwork pattern, and are located directly above the office. General James Ironwood entered Beacon Tower, moving towards the elevator.

A portal opened inside of Ozpin's office, blocking the elevator. Ironwood reached for his weapon while stepping back. Camo walk through the portal, and aimed his pistol at Ironwood. The other ghosts followed, without their weapons ready.

"You knew exactly where Rifleman was, and never told me." Camo growled.

"Forrest. Calm down. Let me explain." Ironwood spoke slowly. Damage to Ozpin's office would not look good to the Vale council, who would be calling soon.

"Explain. Quickly." Camo ordered, as if their ranks did not matter.

"In a moment." Ironwood said, looking to the screen attempting to establish an encypted connection.

"Now!" Camo insisted.

"It was Oz's idea." Ironwood answered.

Camo glared at Ozpin. "Why?" Camo asked.

"Because we didn't need her dead, and her knowledge is useful." Ozpin explained.

"She knows to much. Given the chance, she'll create a mass panic using the truth." Camo warned.

"She helped us save a life." Ironwood added.

"You used her for more than just saving lives." Camo reminded. Ironwood glared. Ozpin didn't understand what Camo meant.

"Everything I've used her for is to save the world." Ironwood justified.

"I'm trying to destroy something that could threaten all of Remnant if SHE finds out he exists." Camo responded, emphasizing "she". They both knew the consequences.

"You're trying to justify murdering a child because he's dangerous. I could have said the same about you and your brothers, when I met Onyx in this room." Ozpin noted.

"Viridian isn't just a child. He has a unique power I haven't seen before." Onyx replied. "There was an unnatural increase in his strength. Like he was drawing power from from the Grimm, and permanently adding it to his own." Onyx was remembering every detail of the fight. Trying to analyze Viridian. Find out what his power was.

"I don't know what Viridian is. I just know that Dr. Rifleman hopes you never kill him." Ironwood admitted, before walking onto the elevator.

The Ghosts left through another portal. Viridian jumped off of the gears. "They won't hurt you as long as you're in my school." Ozpin assured.

"If they try, I'm coming for you." Viridian warned.

...

"Who the hell is "Dr. Rifleman"?" Volt asked.

"One of my old teammates." Camo answered.

"You never meantioned joining a team before." Brass noted.

"Because it wasn't relevant information. She's been missing because Ironwood hid her somewhere." Camo explained.

"You withheld information from us." Silicon said, aggressively. The Ghost's had revealed information about each other's previous lives. However, Camo was note entirely honest.

"I chose not to reveal irrelevant information to stopping Eclipse." Camo responded.

"Eclipse looking for your old teammate wasn't relevant?" Onyx countered.

"You're using fragments of truth to conceal a larger truth." Light noted.

Camo sighed. "I told you about my life as Forrest Camo. I didn't tell you about any other identities I used because they only exist in a few people's memories." Camo explained.

"In other words, you didn't think the past would catch up with you." Onyx simplified.

"What is Viridian, other than the key to Eclipse's plans to create an army, and "a threat to Remnant"." Volt asked.

"I don't know. I found him on one Rifleman's labs. Everything else she had there was based on Umbra's experiments and the Grimm." Camo answered.

...

Dr. Artemis walked into a room with a containment pod. "How long until Project Black Ghost is complete?" Artemis asked.

"About a month. If we could capture one of the Ghosts, we should be able to speed up the process." Another scientist reported.

"You owe me." A voice echoed through the room.

"Who are you?" Artemis asked.

"I am the one who placed the Riders in an illusion, diverting their attention while you escaped." The voice answered.

"Achroma." Dr. Artemis concluded.

"Don't bother trying to retrieve the Crown of the Riders. I am going to collect the it as payment." Achroma declared.

...

Indigo looked at the crown she attached to her hat. The Crown of the Riders.


End file.
